The Cursed Camp
by Derivative
Summary: In the weeks following the Battle of the Labyrinth, weird things started to happen at Camp Half-Blood. As the daughter of Athena, I felt like it was up to me to figure it all out. Easier said than done. Percy and I were still fighting, and to make matters worse, a new girl showed up to cause trouble. Annabeth's POV. Immediately post-BOTL. Canon-friendly.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

When Girls Fly

My summer had sucked even before the new girl turned up. Six days ago, the Battle of the Labyrinth had brought the Titan War to our home. Before that, I had stumbled through leading my first quest. My friends and I had barely made it out alive. I was sure I'd already hit my yearly quota for near-death experiences. But the Fates are funny like that—they always find a way to prove me wrong.

The night it all began, nobody was thinking about the prophecy, the war, or anything else important. You'd be amazed how easily a hundred demigods can be distracted from the fact that our home had just been invaded and the world is fated to end in a little over a year. There I was, sitting in the dining pavilion with everyone else, eagerly awaiting the start of the most important event of the week: capture the flag.

Preparations for the Battle of the Labyrinth had thrown Camp Half-Blood off schedule. The first capture the flag game was finally being held tonight, more than three weeks after it was originally planned.

Everyone was antsy. You can't put a hundred ADHD teenagers trained for combat and itching to fight in close proximity and expect them to sit still. Half-bloods were milling about, brokering alliances, discussing strategy, and talking trash.

I was at the head of the Athena table, staring at a map of the woods. I traced my finger down the creek, considering the usual crossing areas and choke points. Despite all the thought I'd given it, I still hadn't chosen where to put our flag. The best spot, Zeus' Fist, had been obliterated in the recent battle, so that was no longer an option.

A pair of legs slid onto the bench next to me. I glanced up and recognized the owner as Malcolm, my half-brother.

"We've got Apollo," he said with a grin. "Michael was pretty cool about it. He's not even forcing us to do their kitchen patrol. I think he just wants to win."

I nodded. Lee Fletcher, Apollo's previous counselor, was one of the several who had died in the battle. Michael Yew, the new counselor, was not someone I knew very well. Fortunately, he was friends with Malcolm.

"That's great," I said with a grin. "What about Hermes?"

Malcolm shrugged. "The Stolls still haven't picked a side, but if we get them, we'll be set."

"What did you offer them?"

"Our shower time for a week."

I raised an eyebrow. "They didn't accept that?"

The Hermes cabin was notoriously bad about cleaning up. On inspection days, they normally got one of the worst scores, and as a result, they were punished with the worst shower time—before dawn.

"No," he said, thoughtfully. I could practically see the gears turning behind his stormy eyes. "What do you think Clarisse offered them?"

"Her spear, maybe?"

Malcolm snorted. "She'd never give up _Lamer_."

I smiled. Clarisse's terrifying eight-foot magical pike sounded a lot less intimidating when called 'Lamer'.

Malcolm sat back and crossed his arms. The thoughtful expression lingered on his face. He looked down at the map. "So where we gonna put the flag?"

"I still haven't decided. Little Hill, maybe."

"That's a good spot, especially since we have Apollo," he agreed.

"I was thinking the same thing."

"We've got Percy, right? He's gonna be important tonight. I heard that Ares is planning to hit the middle, so I was thinking maybe he could—"

By that point, I had stopped listening to Malcolm. A lump formed in my throat at the thought of Percy, but it had nothing to do with the upcoming game.

It went without saying that he was an asset in capture the flag. Sure, he was skilled with a sword and a natural leader, but his most important attribute in the game was his power in the water. Because the border was the creek, Percy was undoubtedly the strongest defender in the camp. I remembered his first game, when he'd defeated half the Ares cabin _on his own_. That had been years ago, before he'd even learned to fight. These days, the team that had Percy would usually have him hold an entire crossing point solo. The other team would typically try to avoid him by crossing on the other end of the woods or in the center.

Thankfully, his presence on my team was almost always guaranteed, no bribing required. There had been a few times we had been against each other, like when my cabin went up against Hephaestus, but it wasn't common.

"Annabeth."

"Huh?" I asked, blinking away my thoughts.

"You spaced out again," Malcolm remarked.

"I was just thinking, sorry. What did you say?"

"I asked if we had Percy."

"Well… I don't really know," I said, slowly.

He tilted his head. "You two still fighting?"

"We aren't _fighting,_ " I said. "I mean… not really. I just haven't talked to him about it."

"Seems like you haven't talked to him at all, lately."

I raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

Malcolm shrugged. "Just something I noticed. You used to always hang out with him."

I saw Malcolm glance over to the Poseidon table. I didn't dare follow his gaze. Since our quest in the labyrinth, Percy and I hadn't exactly been on the best terms with each other. I had hoped that it would go unnoticed to the rest of camp, but evidently it had not.

Since I didn't reply, Malcolm kept talking. "You've been spacing out a lot too. What, did you two break up or something?"

"Malcolm! We're not even going out."

He smirked teasingly. "I guess not, since I saw him hanging out with an Aphrodite girl at the beach yesterday. I think it was a date."

"Wait _what_?" I felt my eyes widening. That didn't sound like something Percy would do at all. My mind raced to rationalize it. The girl must have desperately begged Percy to spend time with her, or maybe she used her powers to make him crush on her. Or maybe—"That's a joke, isn't it?"

"Yep." I could tell he was barely holding back a snicker.

I made no effort to hide it when I rolled my eyes at him. "Gods, you're as annoying as he is," I said, but in honesty, I was pretty relieved he had been kidding. Aphrodite girls were bad news when it came to boys.

"Seriously though," Malcolm said, "what happened on your quest? It's like you've been avoiding each other since he went missing. When he came back I thought you'd be happy, since you were so worried.

I rubbed my temples in exasperation, growing tired of his teasing. Sometimes dealing with my siblings was worse than dealing with Percy. At least he usually got the message when I tried to get him to stop asking questions. My siblings were too smart and too curious.

"It's nothing, okay?" I said. My tone kind of sharp, but I didn't care. Malcolm should have known better than to question me about Percy.

"Fine, fine. Anyway, I hope we've got him on our side. We're gonna need him if we don't get Hermes."

"We probably do," I said after a moment of consideration. "He never fights for Ares."

"I'll go make sure, if you don't want to," Malcom said, starting to stand up.

"No," I said, cutting him off. "I'll do it."

A knowing grin spread across his face as he sat back down. "Okay."

I sighed and shook my head. Malcolm's teasing could be a headache, but I really did appreciate his help. Despite being more than a year younger than me, he made a good second-in-command.

I could feel a lot of eyes on me as I stood from the Athena table. Capture the flag nights made me into a figurehead. As the counselor of the Athena cabin, I was the _de facto_ leader of my cabin and its allies for the night.

Campers got out of my way as I walked over to the Poseidon table. I'm thankful that Percy was facing the other way, because my bravery probably would have melted under his gaze as I approached. I muttered a silent curse against his eyes for being so striking. It wasn't fair that he could make me feel lightheaded by just looking at me.

I filtered the thoughts away. They weren't going to help me with convincing him to fight for us. I forced a neutral expression and willed the butterflies in my stomach to be still. Cautiously, I took the seat across from him. Percy didn't even notice my presence. He was practically inhaling his blue noodle spaghetti.

I have to admit, it looked pretty funny.

"Hey," I said, mustering my courage.

Percy's eyes met mine. I'm not sure how I expected him to react, but I figured he wouldn't be pleased with me. After all, we hadn't had a conversation in days.

At first he just looked surprised, but then he surprised me back with his signature grin. Had imagined our whole feud? It was hard to believe he just wouldn't care that I had avoided him all week, but he didn't look upset.

"What's up?" he asked.

"You're playing tonight, right?"

"Yeah, I'm playing."

I sighed in relief. "Good. So I was thinking about having you hold the east tonight."

"Oh," Percy said, slowly, putting down his fork. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Well, you see… I kind of agreed to play for red."

My jaw went slack. "You _what_?"

"Hey!" he said defensively, holding up his hands in surrender. "Connor offered me smuggling services for a _month_. I can get a ton of Coca-Cola out of that, y'know?"

It didn't go over my head that what he said also meant that Hermes wasn't actually neutral. They must have been lying to keep me from suspecting they'd bribe Percy. After all, he was friends with a lot of the Hermes cabin.

"Percy!" I glared at him, frustrated. "You can get as much Coke as you want from your goblet!"

"It's _so_ much better out of the can."

I clenched my teeth. Percy had a knack for getting me riled up without even trying. "That doesn't even make sense! It's the same exact drink."

He shrugged. "But it's true."

"Percy, come on. You never play for Ares."

His smile faltered. "So? I can play for whoever I want."

"Why _wouldn't_ you want to play for us?" I demanded. "The Percy I know would never think twice about teaming up with his friends."

I probably shouldn't have gone there. In retrospect, you should never question Percy's loyalty. I later learned it was his fatal flaw. Percy's eyes widened a little in shock. His hurt expression made my heart sting with guilt, but I was too angry to want to apologize.

"Yeah," Percy said, his voice dripping with bitter sarcasm. "Because you've been real friendly lately."

I was vaguely aware that most of the conversation in the dining pavilion had hushed. I felt a lot of eyes on me. A part of me regretted making such a scene, but my pride made me refuse to back down.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I narrowed my eyes on him.

"Well," he said, "first you avoid me all week. Then when you finally talk to me, all you want is my help in capture the flag. You don't have to be Athena's kid to see when someone's using you."

It made me a little angry that he'd even suggest that, but I managed to keep a level head. "You know that's not true."

"No. I don't."

I stared at him, drinking in his hurt expression. His eyes were filled with thought, which was highly atypical of Percy.

"Well it's not," I said matter-of-factly, crossing my arms. "I'd never use you like that. I just want my friend on my team, honest."

He stared back at me. His expression was unreadable until his lips cracked into a little smile. "Well good, I guess. But I'm still playing for Ares. I've already agreed to it. Besides, I'm _not_ giving up that Coke."

I heard some high-fives and fist bumps from the Ares and Hermes tables. Even if I couldn't get him on my team, I was not about to allow Percy to have the last laugh.

I smirked back at him. Percy's crooked smile was contagious. It was hard to stay mad when he looked at you like that.

I stood up. "Fine. It's just too bad you'll have to lose tonight, Seaweed Brain. I'm coming for you."

There was a chorus of amused _"Oohs"_ from the demigods who were observing our argument. I heard some snickering and whispering. I guess they liked what they were seeing. Trash talk was commonplace before capture the flag, but trash talk between Percy and me? Not something you saw every day. To them, it was probably better than reality TV.

"We'll see about that," he flashed me an impish grin.

The audience of demigods whooped and " _Oohed_ " again. If nothing else, at least our argument was getting everyone else hyped up.

I walked back to my table.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, everyone was geared up and I was leading my team into the south woods, carrying the blue banner high. A collection of campers wearing blue-plumed helmets marched behind me, representing the cabins of Athena, Apollo, Hephaestus, and Dionysus. There were about forty of us, and the vast majority came from Apollo and Athena's cabins. Hephaestus and Dionysus only had five campers combined, but thankfully they were above average age-wise and pretty experienced.

I knew that somewhere north of here, Clarisse La Rue was leading the campers from the Ares, Hermes, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Poseidon cabins. If my mental math was correct, they numbered around fifty-five, but I was not too worried about the manpower discrepancy. Red had Demeter and Aphrodite, which meant that more than twenty of their campers would be weak in battle. The Hermes cabin was a mixed bag skill-wise. Their campers typically made great scouts and flag runners, but beyond that they were average.

It was obvious who the real threats were on the opposing team—the Ares campers and Percy.

I threw the flag down at the top of Little Hill, planting it in the mud. Little Hill is about twenty feet tall and has the benefit of being in a clearing. It provides good lines of sight and easy defense, and since we had Apollo, I wasn't worried about archers picking off our defenders from the trees.

The four cabins gathered around me, looking at me expectantly. I inwardly grinned. Nothing got me revved up like seeing my strategy in action.

"Okay!" I spoke loudly, so that all could hear. "I want Apollo split up into three teams: attack, defense, and patrol. Names should be self-explanatory. I'll lead the attack. You know what to do, right?"

Michael Yew stepped forward and took the reigns of his cabin. "If you're leading attack, I'll lead the patrol squad. Will, you're taking defense."

Will Solace nodded, gripping his bow. "You got it."

"How long have we got until the horn?" Malcolm asked.

"Not long," I said, quickly. "Let's hurry."

Everyone muttered in agreement. I looked to the lone son of Dionysus. Looking at him made me feel sad, but I forced a friendly smile. He'd lost his only brother in the Battle of the Labyrinth. I didn't really want to order him around.

"Pollux, what do you want to do?"

He thought for a moment. "I'll go solo, but I'll stay in our territory."

"You sure? There's strength in numbers."

"I'll be alright. It's not like I'm rushing into their territory anyway."

"Okay… just be careful," I said. In truth, I didn't like the idea of him being alone, but I didn't protest.

"I want Hephaestus with me on the attack. Objections?" I looked at Beckendorf.

"None," Beckendorf said. The tall black demigod grinned, looking pleased with being assigned to the attacking team. "We got your back."

I nodded approvingly and looked at my stepsiblings. "And finally, I want half of Athena holding the creek, and half with me. Malcolm, lead the border guard. Got it?"

"Yeah, but one question," said Malcolm, uncertainly, "what if we run into Percy?"

I stifled a groan of annoyance. I hated having to worry about Percy wreaking havoc. I wished I could just ignore the fact that he'd switched teams and worry about it later, but Malcolm's concern was legitimate. If the red team used Percy defensively, he could cover their flank while they pushed hard on the other side. If they used him offensively, he could quickly break the line for the Ares cabin, and it'd be unlikely that one third of the Apollo cabin alone could protect the flag for very long.

"Use a reactionary defense," I finally decided. "Stay within earshot of Michael's patrol and stay away from Percy. Absolutely don't fight him near the creek; he's basically unbeatable there. Don't try to disarm him either; his sword returns to him magically. Just lure him away from the water if you can. Also don't let the Ares cabin drive too far into our side."

"Or we could just send you in to distract him!" someone from the back of Apollo piped up. The whole group chuckled. I just rolled my eyes and decided to let the comment slide.

Somewhere in the distance, the unmistakable sound of a horn broke the silent night. The game had begun. I heard distant whoops and hollering, no doubt Ares campers getting psyched up for combat.

"Okay, move out, blue team!" I shouted.

* * *

We decided to attack the west. Turns out, red team was fast. I suppose I should have expected it, since we were up against the Hermes cabin, but it was still surprising to run into the enemy before we even reached the creek. It was a band of three Hermes campers, hiding in the tree line near our bank of the creek.

My attack squad was sixteen strong. As soon as the three Hermes half-bloods saw us, they turned and ran, jumped over the creek, and disappeared into their side of the forest. The Apollo campers accompanying me fired arrows after them, driving them off faster.

"Scouts." I cursed. "They know we're coming this side now."

To the east, I heard clanging metal and shouting. An off-course arrow whizzed twenty feet away and hit a tree. It was faint, but I also heard the crackle of electricity.

"Clarisse's over there," noted Beckendorf, as he hefted his custom-made longsword. "It sounds like they're pushing the east."

I clenched my jaw. "And Percy's not here."

"Which means he's over there, on the attack," confirmed one of my younger half-brothers, Drake. He sounded worried. "Do you think they'll hold?"

"No," I decided. "I'm going to help them." I looked at Beckendorf. "You lead the attack, okay?"

Beckendorf smirked and rested the flat of his longsword onto his shoulder. "The red flag's as good as ours. Good luck."

With that, he ran off into the creek, then into the trees on the other side. I silently wished them luck, then ran east along the edge of the creek, keeping a sharp eye out for red-plumed helmets. I heard combat close behind me. Apparently Beckendorf and the attackers had encountered resistance. I kept running.

It didn't take me long to find the enemy. Only about fifty paces into my jog, I spotted two half-bloods wearing red-plumed helmets wading through the creek. They were younger girls, probably about eleven or twelve. I vaguely remembered them being newcomers—children of Demeter, I think.

Quietly, I crouched down behind a bush, hoping that they hadn't seen me. Fortunately, they made no indication that I was compromised. I watched carefully as they climbed out of the creek. The taller one bent down to help the shorter one up. A part of me felt bad for what I was about to do, but another part of me recognized that it was all part of the game. I'd been beaten by older kids a lot when I was even younger than they were.

As the second girl climbed out of the creek, she put her weapon down to grab a root for support. I recognized it as my best chance for an ambush. In an instant, I jumped out of my hiding place and drew my dagger, only a few feet away from the two. I prioritized the girl holding a weapon.

Before she even seemed to realize what was happening, I kicked her in the abdomen. The girl's eyes went wide behind her helmet and she opened her mouth to yell, but I had knocked the wind out of her. She stumbled backwards and fell back into the creek with a _splash!_

The second girl was a little quicker in combat. In the time it took me to kick her friend into the water, she managed to grab her sword and get to her feet. She shouted and hacked the blade vertically downward at me. My brain registered the threat and my demigod battle reflexes kicked in.

I twisted my shoulders to the right. The girl's celestial bronze blade passed in front of my face, but narrowly missed my shoulder, her intended target. Judging by her form, I could tell that the girl was inexperienced. She put far too much into that attack, swinging with both hands, and now she was off-balance and undefended.

I didn't want to maim her, so instead I used my dagger like a hammer and slammed her helmet with the hilt. When metal impacted metal, there was a loud _THUNG!_ I saw her eyes vibrate from the force of the impact. She crumpled.

I muttered a silent apology to the two. The fight had only lasted about fifteen seconds. I kept running towards the sound of battle to the east.

But as I ran, I couldn't shake a feeling of dread. You know that feeling you get when you know someone's watching you? It hung over me like a raincloud. The hair on the back of my neck stood up.

 _Someone is watching me,_ I thought. I knew it. I could feel it. Someone was gonna ambush me. Probably the reds. Maybe Percy.

I skidded to a stop and whirled around, my weapon raised. To my surprise, nobody was there. It was just the dark forest. In the distance, through the thick trees, I could see the remains of Zeus' Fist: crushed boulders and fallen trees. But I didn't see any campers.

But even as I stared in that direction, I swear, I felt eyes on me. I bit my lip in apprehension. A part of me was tempted to follow my superstition towards Zeus' Fist to investigate the feeling, but I had a game to focus on.

I suddenly felt the urge to get back to my teammates. Shaking off the feeling of dread, I pressed on down the river.

It didn't take me long to find another player. This time, fortunately, it was a teammate. Less fortunately, he was on the ground, sitting with his back against a tree, and was soaking wet. It took me all of two seconds to figure out what had happened.

"Pollux!" I shouted, rushing to his side.

"Unggh…" he muttered, squinting to look at me. "Annabeth?"

"Where's Percy?" I asked, removing his blue-plumed helmet so that I could understand him better. Pollux looked shaken up, but not injured. Judging by the impact mark on the tree behind him, Percy probably blasted him into it with a jet of water.

"He…" Disoriented, Pollux raised a finger to point to the east. "That way… Be careful. Ares too."

"Got it, thanks!" I said, trying to smile. This time, I failed. I knew I shouldn't have let Pollux go alone.

Nevertheless, I took off to the east. And just like him, I was on my own.

After about half a minute more of running, the shouting and clanging of combat grew loud. I knew I was getting close. I reached the edge of the clearing and hid behind a tree. Carefully, I poked my head around to survey the battle.

Needless to say, it didn't look very good. Clarisse and the rest of Ares had formed a _phalanx_ and were advancing relentlessly on a small band of my stepsiblings and about ten Apollo campers. It looked like Malcolm's defensive line had been broken. I cringed as I watched one of the stragglers get shield-bashed by an Ares hoplite. Apollo campers were slowing the advance with a barrage of arrows, but Clarisse was barking orders at her cabin, and they were getting better at blocking the arrows with every passing second. Oddly, Percy was nowhere to be seen.

After about ten seconds of surveying, I decided that I'd better go help. Even if I didn't have a plan, I couldn't just sit back and watch my friends get routed. I dashed out into the clearing, running along the sandy creek bank.

One of Clarisse's underlings must have seen me approaching and notified her, because her helmet turned and her eyes locked onto mine. She yelled something at her siblings that I didn't catch, and then she stepped back, out of the phalanx, and turned to face me.

"Lookie here!" Clarisse shouted with glee. The sharp tip of Maimer crackled with static electricity in her hand. "The blue team captain. Come to surrender?"

I skidded to a stop in the sand twenty feet away from her. Behind her, I saw the Ares phalanx as it continued to push through the blue team's defense. The Apollo campers that hadn't been knocked out or captured were retreating towards Little Hill.

However, without Clarisse guiding the phalanx, I noticed that its advance had slowed significantly. More of the Apollo demigods' arrows were slipping through the shield wall and pelting the Ares campers in their armor.

I knew what I had to do.

"You wish," I said defiantly. "I came for a duel."

"You want to duel _me_?" Clarisse asked incredulously.

"That's right." My voice came out confidently, but inwardly I knew the odds were stacked against me. Don't get me wrong, I'm a good fighter, but my dagger is unfit for dueling. Not to mention that Clarisse was probably the best warrior in camp. She could even defeat Percy when he wasn't in the water.

"Brave, I'll give you that." the tall girl snorted, pointing her spear at me. Tendrils of electricity danced its entire length as she leveled it towards me. I'd seen Maimer in action enough times to know what was about to happen.

I reached down and snatched my cap of invisibility out of the back pocket of my jeans. I slapped the cap onto my head, turning invisible, and dove to the left.

For a split second, the dusk turned to day. Then, a crash of thunder left my ears ringing as I rolled to my knees. To my right, where I had just been standing, the ground was blackened and burned, the product of a lightning blast from Maimer.

In an adrenaline-fueled frenzy, I shot to my feet and rushed Clarisse, still invisible. She scanned her eyes in my general direction and held her shield up warily. I closed the distance quickly and flipped my dagger in my hand, so that the blade was facing downward. I was about to smash the hilt into her helmet when she violently thrust her shield forward.

I felt the wind leave my lungs as Clarisse's shield bash knocked me off my feet. I fell down backwards onto my butt, dropping my blade beside me. When I looked up at her, my vision was spinning, but my mind managed to register that I could see my legs. Unfortunately, that meant Clarisse could too. My cap must have been knocked off.

She leered down at me and pointed her crackling lance down towards my face. I impulsively scooted backwards in terror. Trust me, it's impossible to be brave when Maimer is shoved directly in your face, even if you know that maiming isn't allowed.

"Your little trick's not gonna fool me," Clarisse smirked cockily at me, evidently pleased with herself. "Surrender now, or—"

 _THWANG!_

Just then, something hit Clarisse in the right side of the helmet so hard that she staggered to the left. A second later, three more blunt-tipped arrows smashed into her breastplate, knocking her off her feet.

I blinked in shock, but reacted as quickly as someone who had just taken a shield bash could. I scrambled to my feet and snatched up my knife and hat, both of which lay in the sand beside me. Clarisse groaned in pain on the ground nearby and pulled off her helmet, but she didn't make any move to stand up.

I scanned the surroundings. To my surprise, things were looking really good. I saw the Ares campers retreating, being chased off by a large group of bow-wielding Apollo campers. I frowned in confusion, wondering where they had come from. When I had started my fight with Clarisse, there had not been anywhere near that many Apollo demigods defending the creek. But even they were over a hundred feet away. Who had fired the arrows at Clarisse?

I got my answer when Will Solace walked out of his hiding place in the bushes.

"What were you just saying about surrender, Clarisse?" Will asked, with a playful grin.

"Solace," Clarisse scowled from where she lay, clutching her forehead. "You just interrupted a duel, runt."

"All's fair in love, war, and capture the flag," Will replied in a singsong voice, grinning. "You alright, Annabeth?"

"I'm fine," I said, stuffing my cap into my back pocket again. "But Will, why are you here? I thought you were defending the flag."

He eyed me with confusion, like I had asked a stupid question. "We saw Michael's patrol and the kids from your cabin guarding the river were getting whipped. Ares was following them, so we ambushed them and chased them off."

"No," I said, rubbing my forehead in frustration. "I mean why did you leave the base? Your team was in charge of guarding it."

"We had to help you," he explained with a shrug. "Besides, we drove all the Ares guys off."

"Was Percy with them?"

"Percy? No, I don't think so."

I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. "Did you leave anyone guarding the flag?"

"No…" Will said, slowly. "But seriously, we drove them all off, it's not like—"

Will was cut off by a loud sound coming from the east. It reminded me of the drone violent rapids. When I looked upstream, I was shocked to see a huge surge of water racing towards us, extending far beyond the normal banks of the creek and even into the trees.

"Oh gods…" Will muttered in awe, backing away.

"Look out!" I yelled, but before I could even react, the torrent was upon us.

The six-foot wall of water hit me in the back as I turned to run, knocking me off my feet. I tumbled and flipped through the freshwater surf like a ragdoll as the huge wave broke on the sand and carried me downstream. I thrashed and struggled, trying to regain control of myself, but the current was too strong. Attempting to fight it was like trying to swim up a waterfall.

When the wave finally petered out and I managed to stagger to my feet, I realized I'd been moved more than a hundred feet downstream. As dizzy and dripping wet as I was, I knew exactly who had caused the wave. Only one person in the camp could do something like that.

Sure enough, near where I had just been standing, I saw Percy race out of the tree line on my team's end of the creek. Carrying the blue banner, he sprinted into the creek and waded across it with speed that would be impossible for anyone else. I broke into a run after him, but it was no use. He was home free.

I had just reached the bank of the creek opposite him when he set foot on dry land. He paused and turned around to look at me. I swear I saw him smirk under his helmet as he threw the banner down, planting it in the sand. The dark blue banner shimmered and turned sea green. Athena's mark—the owl—was replaced by a golden trident.

Somewhere in the distance, I heard the conch horn blast, signaling that the game was over. Poseidon, a cabin with only one camper, now held a flag.

Percy pulled off his helmet and tucked it under his arm. His hair was even wilder than usual because of the helmet, but I didn't mind. I'd never admit it to him, but Percy made the hoplite armor look good.

"Hey Wise Girl," he called across the creek, offering me a taunting grin.

"You got lucky," I declared, crossing my arms, which probably looked kind of ridiculous, since I was soaking wet.

"Maybe," he said. "How was your swim?"

I rolled my eyes, ignoring his jab. "If my team had listened to me, there would have been twenty Apollo guys guarding the flag."

"Y'know, I thought it was a trap when I showed up and found your base empty."

"And you still walked in anyway?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

I cracked a smile. It was so typical of Percy to run in and 'just go for it', despite the risks involved.

He waded over to my side of the creek as though it was easier than walking on land. As he stepped onto the sand near me, I admired his banner.

"I like it," I remarked.

"Huh?" Percy asked, looking down at me in confusion.

"Your banner, I mean," I quickly amended. "I've never seen Poseidon's before."

"Oh," He glanced up at it, then back down to me. "Neither have I, come to think of it. The trident looks pretty wicked."

"The color's pretty."

He shrugged. "It's okay I guess. I thought it'd be bluer."

"It's the same as your eyes," I blurted, without thinking. As soon as I heard my own words, I cursed my ADHD. "I-I mean—"

I tried to backtrack, but he cut me off. "You think so?"

"Yeah." I breathed in relief. This was Percy I was talking to, why was I even worried? He wouldn't have made that connection given a hundred years.

An uncomfortable silence settled between us. I became acutely aware of the bubbling of the creek nearby. The wind was picking up quickly, and it whistled through the trees. I wanted to say something, but the words eluded me. My mind drifted back to our kiss in the volcano. I felt my cheeks heating up at the thought, and I hoped it was too dark for Percy to notice.

I hated the silence. It reminded me of how we'd been avoiding each other. It reminded me that things were tense between us. It reminded me of how he'd left me for two weeks and I thought I'd never hear his voice again. It came as a relief when he broke it.

"Where is everyone, anyway?" he asked.

I looked around, considering his words. It was odd that nobody had found us yet. Everyone was supposed to return to the creek at the end of the game so we could walk back to the cabins together. It had been a couple minutes since the horn, but nobody had showed up except us.

"I don't know," I said. "Will Solace and Clarisse should be around here somewhere."

"Oh," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Actually, I sorta overdid it on them. They probably ended up near the beach."

I nodded. When he didn't say anything else, I could feel the silence starting to rise again between us, which worried me. In the past, we never had trouble talking about anything. But recently, just maintaining a dialogue with him was harder than fighting a cyclops.

Thankfully, he stepped up to the plate before I had to. "I've been meaning to ask you…"

I felt my heart catch in my throat. We were alone, and Percy normally _never_ started questions like that.

"Yeah?" I asked. My voice sounded small.

"Well…" Percy shuffled uncomfortably. I unconsciously held my breath in anticipation. "I was uh… just wondering about—"

"Percy!" cried a nearby voice, cutting him off. I wasn't sure whether to be disappointed or relieved.

I turned and squinted to see someone sprinting up the sandy bank of the creek. As he got closer, I recognized it was Drake, the younger stepbrother of mine who had been on the attacking squad during the game.

He skidded to a stop in the sand in front of us and huffed to catch his breath with his hands on his knees. Percy looked at me questioningly. I shrugged. Drake looked like he'd seen a ghost.

"Is something wrong?" I asked, feeling the seed of worry starting to sprout in my stomach.

"Yeah!... the beach!... Percy help!" Drake babbled in between gasps of air. It was hard to really make out what he was saying since it was mixed with so much gibberish.

"Wait, what?" Percy asked, baffled. "Dude, slow down, I only got like five words of that."

I set a steady hand on my stepbrother's shoulder.

"Drake, get a grip," I said sternly. "What's wrong?"

He took a deep breath and tried again. "The beach. There's someone stranded in the water. It's all stormy… can't risk it." Drake looked at Percy hopefully.

Percy and I exchanged a worried glance. Drake was still only sort of making sense, but I got the gist of it this time: someone was in the water and needed Percy's help.

"Alright, let's go," Percy said. "Drake, when you follow us, bring my flag."

The younger boy glanced up at the banner, probably noticing it for the first time. "You got it," he said, still panting.

With that, we raced off, following the creek towards the beach.

* * *

It was a pretty lengthy run to the shoreline. Wearing armor made it even harder, and we had just played capture the flag, so I was already tired. By the time we reached the edge of the forest, I was gasping for air. My muscles ached. I made a mental note to apologize for being short with Drake, because I could see why he had been drained at the end of the run.

Percy had it easy. All he had to do was run in the ankle-deep part of the creek and the water granted him virtually unlimited stamina. He wasn't even sweating when we reached the shoreline.

Since the game had started, the wind had picked up. Clouds had blown in, covering the moon, but thankfully there was still enough light from the sun just below the horizon to see what we were doing. Big wind-whipped waves crashed on the shoreline. The ocean didn't look inviting at all. I couldn't imagine being stranded out there.

"Over there!" I said, pointing to a congregation of campers near the water.

I jogged over to them, Percy in tow. Chiron was with them, standing in the center of the group, arguing with a few of them.

"We've gotta do _something_!" I heard Connor Stoll yell. "She'll drown!"

"No!" Chiron replied, "Don't go out there, you'll just end up stranded too. We need—" Just then, he turned to see us. "Percy! Thank goodness you're here."

Forty pairs of eyes turned to look at us.

"Someone's out there?" Percy asked, looking out over the stormy sea. It was dark enough that the water looked inky black. I didn't see anyone until Chiron pointed her out.

"Directly out, about five hundred feet," Chiron said, grimly.

I squinted and scanned the water. At first, I saw nothing; the waves blocked my vision. Then, after the nearest wave crashed on the shore, I saw her. It was definitely a person. I could make out two arms and a head. The rest must have been underwater.

"There she is!" cried one of the onlookers, Katie Gardner, who pointed her finger at the same thing I had seen.

"Get a move on, Jackson!" shouted Clarisse, of all people. "She's drowning out there!"

Percy must have seen her too, because he ripped off his breastplate and shoes. His shirt came off with his armor, which didn't really matter since it wouldn't have gotten wet anyway, but I wasn't about to complain. We all watched as he ran out, waded into the water, dove into the first wave, and disappeared under the dark surf.

"How did you notice her?" I asked nobody in particular.

"Connor saw her," Travis Stoll said.

"It sounds stupid, but she fell from the sky," Connor confirmed what his twin said. "I saw her hit the water."

There was a lot of muttering about among the group that. I frowned. If I hadn't seen the girl with my own eyes, I probably wouldn't have believed Connor. Children of Hermes were not known for their honesty.

Another big wave broke on the shoreline. I couldn't help but get worried, even though I knew Percy should be fine. After he'd vanished during our quest, I'd started to worry about him more.

"How long ago was that?" demanded Clarisse.

"It was right before the end of the game," said Connor. "I dunno, five or ten minutes? She was yelling for help at first but I had no idea what to do."

"If she stopped yelling, that might mean she's unconscious," I said.

Chiron's expression was grim. "Let's hope not."

As the next wave broke, we saw that Percy had surfaced next to the distant figure. Everyone watched as he grabbed her by the shoulders and waved his hand, which sent both of them jetting back towards the land. I didn't look away until another wave rose and blocked my vision.

"Chiron," I said, gaining his attention, "Camp Half-Blood's boundaries still apply on the water, right?"

"They do, at the shoreline," was all Chiron said.

A wave of uneasiness spread throughout the group of campers as Chiron's words sunk in. When I heard murmurings of 'half-blood' and 'mortal' being thrown around, I realized the others were thinking the same thing I was:

If the girl turned out to be mortal, she would drown. Percy wouldn't be able to get her to the shoreline. The boundary would prevent it.

All talking ceased when the next wave broke, revealing Percy wading through the surf, carrying the mystery girl towards the shore. Apparently he hadn't even considered what might happen if the girl was mortal, because he had no hesitations about walking right out of the water.

When Percy stepped out of the ocean with the girl still in his arms, it started a commotion.

"She's a half-blood!" exclaimed Silena Beauregard. "She has to be, because she passed the border, right?"

"It would seem so," replied Chiron, thoughtfully.

Percy walked up, knelt down, and placed the girl down on the sand. I rushed over and knelt down on the other side of the girl's body. Everyone else crowded around.

For the first time, I got a good look at her. The first thing I noticed was that she had clearly had a bad day. Her tight jeans were soaked and dirty, and her blouse had been cut in a few different places. The girl was Asian, had black hair, and looked about my age, maybe a little younger. She looked tall, but I couldn't tell quite how tall when she was lying down. Her eyes were clenched shut and her face had a pained expression. If she hadn't been so beaten up, I would have thought she was pretty.

"Oh my gods," said Connor, "I don't think she's breathing!"

With shaking hands, I reached to touch her neck. For a chilling second I couldn't find her pulse, but after a second manage to locate it. It felt normal, which was odd, since she wasn't breathing.

"No," I declared, "she's alive."

A thin wave of relief spread through the group, but only for a second.

"Then why isn't she breathing?" the other Stoll demanded.

"I… I don't know," I admitted.

"That doesn't make sense," Percy said urgently. "She said something when I grabbed her, so she had to have been breathing."

I let my eyes wander as my mind raced. Everyone was looking down with mournful expressions, as though we were standing around a grave.

"Wait," I said in realization. "Her lungs! Percy, she must have water in them. Can you—?"

"Yeah, got it."

I watched in concern as Percy put his hand over her mouth and closed his eyes in focus. Could Percy even control water inside other people's bodies? I didn't know, but at this point, it was her only hope. The girl's face was pale. She would asphyxiate if she went much longer without oxygen.

He pinched his index finger and thumb together, like he was grabbing a string. When he yanked his hand back, a short stream of water snaked its way out of the girl's mouth and levitated upward to follow Percy's hand.

Immediately, the girl gasped like she had surfaced from the bottom of the ocean and shot up to a sitting position. Her dark eyes frantically darted around, taking in the sight of everyone crowding her. Her breathing was panicked, but it was hard to say whether it was because she just had water in her lungs or because so many unknown people were surrounding her. She shivered when the wind gusted against her drenched clothes.

Murmurs of uncertainty spread throughout the entire group. We all crowded in a little tighter. After a minute, the unknown girl's breathing normalized and she gaped at us in wonder.

"What's going on?" she asked. Her voice was smooth and pleasant, but laced with fear and uncertainty. "Oh my god, I didn't drown, right? Who are you people?"

Chiron stepped forward. I saw her eyes widen significantly when she saw him, but she didn't panic. I figured she must have seen some monsters or mythological creatures of some type before. Anyone that hadn't would have gaped at the centaur.

"You were drowning," Chiron said, gesturing to Percy, "until Percy here fished you out of the water."

"Oh," the unidentified girl mumbled. She glanced to Percy and managed a little smile, despite being wracked by shivering. "T-Thank you."

"It was nothing," Percy said with a shrug.

"You are at Camp Half-Blood, a refuge for demigods," Chiron declared. "Welcome."

"Demigods…" the girl said in wonder, but I noticed that she didn't sound that surprised, which I found weird. She swiveled her head around, drinking in the sight of us all. She let her eyes linger on Percy for a little longer than I approved of. "Like, you mean you have a parent who's a god?"

"That's right," Chiron confirmed. "Greek gods, specifically."

"All of you?"

"All of _them_ ," he corrected, "I am a centaur. My name is Chiron."

"I think I'm a demigod too," the girl said slowly.

I knit my eyebrows. How on earth could she have known that? I had no idea about what I was until Thalia and Luke had told me.

"You must be," said Chiron. "It's impossible for mortals to cross the camp's boundaries, but you just did. Tell me, what is your name?"

"Drew," she said, finally smiling a little. "Drew Tanaka."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Blackout Begins

The rest of the evening continued as if we hadn't just watched an unknown girl get fished out of the sea. Chiron had taken Drew back to the Big House to rest. Despite how lucid she had seemed when speaking to everyone, Chiron had decided that she should spend one night in the Big House infirmary to recover.

The campfire was as lively as ever. The Ares campers were being especially obnoxious, taking every opportunity to rub their victory in the Athena demigods' faces, even though it had really been Percy that had captured our flag.

Speaking of the flag, Percy's sea-green banner was planted in the gravel at the front of the campfire alcove for all to see, flanking the fire. It was matched on the other side by the Ares banner.

I watched Percy, who was sitting next to Connor Stoll near the front. Connor clapped Percy on the back and whispered something in his ear. Percy made a surprised face, then the two burst into laughter.

I sighed.

"What's wrong?" asked Malcolm, who sat beside me.

I stared at my half-brother in shock. That kid is dangerously perceptive, especially for his age. "Nothing," I lied.

"It's not your fault, you know," he said.

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Your plan was flawless," Malcolm said. "I heard Solace screwed up by leaving the base. Don't feel bad."

I scoffed mentally. Did he really think I cared about that? Maybe he wasn't so perceptive after all. I just decided to play along. Playing guilty was better than being harassed.

"Thanks, Malcolm," I said, forcing a glum smile.

"No problem!" he beamed.

Even if he was comforting me for the wrong reason, I did appreciate that Malcolm cared. Of all my half-siblings, he was the one that felt most like a real brother.

I watched as Clarisse walked over to Percy and clapped him on the back so hard he fell off the bench. I stifled a giggle. She yelled something at him that made her entire cabin guffaw—probably some kind of half-congratulation, half-insult.

"What do you think of that new girl?" Malcolm asked out of the blue.

"Drew, you mean?" I said with a shrug, "I don't even know her."

Malcolm frowned. "Don't you kind of think it's weird?"

"What, that she fell out of the sky and hasn't explained why?" I asked sarcastically.

He snorted and rolled his eyes. "That too, but I'm really talking about how she mentioned she already knew she was a half-blood."

I nodded. "I was wondering about that."

Malcolm and I watched as the Ares cabin chant victoriously. The huge bonfire pulsed higher every time they yelled their father's name: _Ares! Ares! Ares!_

"Maybe her mortal parent told her?" Malcolm offered.

"I doubt it. That's like sentencing your child to death. Monsters sense us more easily once we know what we are, remember?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, but how else would she know?"

I tapped my lip in thought. It really didn't make sense.

"I have no idea," I finally said.

"Maybe… maybe she was lying?" Malcolm phrased it more as a question than a statement. "After all, she only said it after Chiron said we were demigods."

I shook my head. "But why would she lie about that? It makes no sense."

He opened his mouth to reply, but stopped short. I could tell he was thinking hard, but it didn't seem like he was turning up any results.

"You don't think she might be one of… you know, Luke's, do you?" Malcolm asked carefully. He seemed hesitant to even say Luke's name.

I swallowed hard. Even thinking about Luke made my heart hurt, but I forced myself to. Come to think of it, what Malcolm said could be true. It would explain why she knew she was a demigod—Luke would have told her. And she could be here now to spy on us or even to attack us from within.

"I hope not. I'll just go ask her some questions later," I said. "How about that?"

Malcolm nodded. He didn't seem quite done talking about it, but we couldn't continue the conversation, because Chiron came clopping up to the front of the bonfire alcove.

As Chiron walked down the center aisle, the campers all quieted down, even the Ares ones, which was impressive. The only sound came from the crackling fire, the wind, and horse hooves on gravel. Everyone watched him expectantly as he turned around and faced us.

"Campers!" He said loudly. "I'm proud of you all for how you played tonight in capture the flag. Both teams employed admirable strategy—I can tell you have learned much since last year."

There were mixed murmurs throughout the sitting campers.

"Congratulations to the Ares cabin for leading the red team to victory," Chiron smiled a little at Clarisse and her siblings.

The campers applauded. Some of it was half-hearted, including my own. It was hard to cheer for the team that had just beaten you, even if you were expected to. Clarisse victoriously held a fist high, eating up the praise.

"And a big congratulations to Percy for being the first in a _very_ long time to capture a flag in the name of Posiedon!"

Everyone applauded again, this time more genuine. Percy had far fewer enemies in camp than Clarisse and her siblings. I saw him wave to everyone from where he sat with a big goofy grin on his face. I admired the sea-green banner as it shimmered in the firelight. Honestly, there was nothing special about it. It was very similar to the banners of other cabins, but the fact that nobody at camp had ever seen it before, except for maybe Chiron, gave it novelty.

"Now then," Chiron said, his smile fading. "A couple announcements. I'm sure you've all heard the first by now, even if you weren't there to witness it yourself. We have a new camper."

There was more murmuring. Malcolm leaned over to me and whispered, "What cabin do you think she is, anyway?"

I just shrugged. "There's always a chance she won't even be claimed."

Malcolm nodded grimly.

Chiron continued once the talking died down. "Before you all ask—her parentage is unknown. Tonight, she will be staying in the Big House. After that, she will go to the Hermes cabin with the rest of the unclaimed."

Connor Stoll groaned. He wasn't the only one who did. I heard several Hermes campers voice their disapproval. I felt kind of bad for them. For most cabins, a new sibling is exciting. But for the overcrowded Hermes cabin, each new camper is a burden, especially the unclaimed.

"I trust that you will all do well to make Drew feel welcome tomorrow, yes?" Chiron said with a little smile.

There were some curt nods, but most people just didn't reply. New campers were a standard thing—anyone who wasn't on their first summer had gotten used to it by now.

"Lastly," Chiron said, "now that repairs from the battle are officially done, camp activities will resume tomorrow. You can find the schedule posted outside the Big House. That is all!"

With that, Chiron clip-clopped back down the aisle, towards the Big House. The talking resumed immediately, more excited this time, as the demigods stood up to head back to their cabins.

I saw Percy stand up and laugh about something with Connor and Travis. The three walked off towards the cabins. He didn't even look my way. I sighed again.

"Wanna go check out the schedule?" asked Malcolm, restoring my focus.

"No… I'm exhausted," I lied, standing up. I glanced at Malcolm and offered him a tired smile. "I think I'm just gonna go to bed."

He frowned, but didn't question it. "Alright, well I'll go have a look at it. Seeya in a little."

"See you," I replied.

He ran off towards the Big House, and I headed to the Athena cabin.

* * *

I'd been having bad dreams since the end of my quest, but that night, the nightmares got much worse.

"Annabeth," said a familiar voice.

I winced at the voice and stirred in my sleep.

 _No, too early,_ I thought, covering my eyes with my arms. _Bother me later._

" _Annabeth,_ " the voice said, more aggressively this time. But this time, it was _two_ voices. A voice I knew, with a second darker, raspier voice overlaid on top of it. The second voice sounded inhuman—distorted and evil.

I shot up to a sitting position in terror. My vision was horribly blurry from sleep. I blinked frantically to try to bring anything I could into focus.

When I finally could see what was around me, everything stopped making sense. I wasn't in my bunk. I wasn't in the Athena cabin. The place was familiar though, with its black facades and huge support columns. In front of me was a large golden sarcophagus.

I gasped. This is where it had all happened. Mt. Othrys. Where Luke—

I choked back a sob at the thought of Luke. The one I recognized was _his_ voice, I realized.

"L-Luke?" I stammered, fearfully.

" _No_ ," the dark voice boomed from the coffin, alone this time. " _It is me._ "

"Kronos," I said through clenched teeth. "Let Luke go!"

" _In due time, girl, I fully intend to_."

"You… you do?" I asked as I took a careful step forward, towards the coffin. I felt the temperature drop a few degrees, even with just a single step. Whatever was in that sarcophagus was radiating an unbelievable amount of evil power.

" _Oh, yes,_ " Kronos replied, his voice full of malice. " _In due time. The son of Hermes has proven to be far less useful than I had hoped. He is merely a stepping stone to my next platform. I will discard him when I am finished with him."_

My upper lip twitched in rage. "You're going to kill him!"

Kronos released a twisted laugh that made anger swell in my veins. The Titan had the audacity to find Luke's death _amusing_ , even after Luke had given everything to him, even his body. Bitter tears of rage formed in my eyes.

In a fit of fury, I charged the golden sarcophagus. Kronos only laughed harder. I desperately clawed at the lid of the sarcophagus, struggling to pull it off. With a great deal of effort, it finally budged, and fell aside, revealing… nothing?

Aghast, I stared into the coffin, which contained absolutely nothing—and I don't mean it was empty, I mean the coffin opened into a black void that seemed to repel all light.

"Where are you?!" I screamed in fear and frustration as tears started to stream down my face. "Show yourself!"

" _I am closer to you than you know."_ Kronos' laughs grew louder and louder, ringing in my ears. I felt gravity intensifying. In horror, I realized what was happening—I was being sucked into the abyss. I tried to resist, but it was too late; I was too close. With an awful scream, I was pulled into the darkness. Everything went black.

* * *

I sat up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. In panic, I took in my surroundings. I was in the Athena cabin, sitting in my bunk. The room was dark, and I heard one of my siblings snoring.

I cursed silently, realizing it had just been another dream.

A glance at the clock revealed the time to be 5:03AM. I huffed in relief; at least I had gotten a decent amount of sleep. I slid out of my bunk, changed into fresh camp T-shirt, and pulled my hair back hastily. I was very careful not to make too much noise—I knew Malcolm woke easily, and the last thing I needed was him asking me more questions.

Thankfully, I managed to get my shoes on and get out the door silently enough that nobody noticed. I took a deep breath of the brisk morning air and gazed out over the cabin yard. As I expected, all was quiet. I saw a light on in the shower house, probably a Hermes kid using their only shower time, but the yard was still. The sun still hadn't peeked out from behind the horizon, but I could see the faint glow of dawn shining in the east.

It had been the same way the past six mornings: go to bed, have a bad dream about Luke, wake up alone. But last night's had felt so much more real.

I walked down the steps of the Athena cabin and followed the path that led towards the beach. As I passed the Big House, I paused to look up at Thalia's Pine far above on the hill. I wondered how she was doing. She had been just as close, if not closer to Luke than I was before she had sacrificed herself. Last summer, when she found out Luke betrayed the gods, she was crushed. I hated to think how she would react when she found out that Luke and Kronos were now one and the same.

With a sigh, I pressed on. I had been going to the beach alone in the mornings ever since the battle. The sound of the waves crashing was soothing—it helped me to forget my awful dreams about Luke.

As I stepped out onto the sand, I heard rustling in the trees behind me. Still jumpy from my nightmare, I drew my dagger, whirled around, and yelled, "Stay back!"

Juniper, apparently the source of the noise, gave me an odd look. "Annabeth?"

"Oh…" I sighed with relief and lowered my knife. "Juniper."

"You're up early," she remarked, walking out onto the sand to follow me.

"So are you," I said, sitting down on the ground. I sheathed my weapon.

Juniper sat beside me and brushed a lock of hair behind her green-tinted ear. "We dryads don't sleep much. But what brings you out here?"

"I couldn't sleep," I admitted, playing thoughtlessly with some sand, letting it run through my fingers.

She smiled sympathetically at me. "Bad dreams?"

I nodded.

Juniper sighed. "I had horrible nightmares about Grover when you guys went into the Labyrinth."

I nodded once more. I remember Juniper had told me about it during the two weeks when Percy was missing. When I had returned without Grover or Percy, she had been inconsolable. The two of us had suffered together, making us good friends.

I looked down at the floor miserably. "Dreams really know right were to hit us, don't they?"

She eyed me with concern. "What was yours about?"

I hesitated for a second, but figured I had nothing to lose. "Luke."

The Dryad nodded solemnly. "I heard what he did," she said. "I'm so sorry."

"So am I."

She blinked at me in confusion. "Why?"

I pursed my lips. Not even Juniper knew what had happened at the beginning of summer. Could she be trusted? I felt like I had to tell _someone_.

"Luke visited me," I admitted. "Before summer he begged me to run away with him."

"And you said no, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

She nodded. We were silent for a while. The sun was just starting to come over the horizon. The beach was a great place to watch it—probably the best in camp.

"I'm glad you did," Juniper said. "For Percy's sake."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"If you ran off with Luke, he would be crushed."

I blinked at her in shock. How could she be so wrong?

"No," I said sadly. "I don't think he'd even care. We basically haven't even talked to each other in a week."

Juniper laughed and shook her head. "I doubt it. I've heard all about him. Grover tells me Percy… well, he really cares about you."

I leaned back on my arms, wondering just what Grover had told Juniper. Maybe I'd ask him later. "I guess."

Juniper put a hand on my shoulder and smiled warmly. "You told me he held up the sky for you, remember? He cares."

I smiled half-heartedly back at her. As much as I wanted to believe that meant something special, a part of me knew that Percy would have done that for any of his friends—not just me. He would have done it for Grover, or Thalia, or… Rachel Dare.

For a minute or two, I didn't reply, just listening to the waves breaking on the shore. It was ironic, really, to soothe myself using something that reminded me so much of the source of my strife. The sea reminded me of Percy. And lately, Percy had been reminding me of Luke.

"Thanks, Juniper," I said, after a long silence.

She looked over and grinned at me, but then her gaze wandered over my shoulder. I saw her eyes widen in shock.

"Oh my—" she started to say, before she covered her mouth in alarm.

I turned to follow her gaze. To my surprise, I saw someone laying face-down in the sand a hundred feet away, unmoving. It must have been too dark to see the person on our way out, but now that the sun had peeked out from behind the horizon, it was impossible to miss.

Without a word, I jumped to my feet and rushed over to the downed person. I heard Juniper following close behind.

As I got closer, I noticed the figure was a teenage guy, probably a little younger than me. He was wearing an orange camp T-shirt and blue jeans, and he had blond hair. Even though I couldn't see his face, I had a sinking feeling that I knew who it was.

I reached his side and rolled him over, and my fears were confirmed.

"Malcolm!?" I shrieked in horror, praying to all the gods in Olympus that he was okay.

To my immense relief, as soon as I flipped him over, his gray eyes fluttered open to meet my matching ones. His face was caked in sand, probably due to having been laid face down.

Juniper knelt down beside me and shot me a baffled look.

"Annabeth?" Malcolm asked, sounding extremely confused. He used a hand to wipe some of the sand off his face. "What are you—"

He must have realized where he was, because his eyes went wide, and he cut himself off. My half-brother's eyes darted around the beach in utter confusion.

"What the—? Why am I on the beach?!" he asked me loudly, sounding a little afraid.

I blinked in surprise. "Wait, you don't remember coming here?"

"No!" he said fearfully.

Under normal conditions, I might have suspected he was kidding, but something about his tone made me think he was dead-serious.

Juniper tilted her head in confusion. "You remember nothing at all?"

"Nothing!" he insisted, pushing himself into a sitting position. "What… what time is it?

I shrugged, but Juniper replied for me. "5:38 AM," she said, as if she had a perfect biological clock. Come to think of it, she might—I haven't studied Dryads very well.

"I've been out here _all night?!_ " Malcolm exclaimed in shock.

"Calm down, Malcolm," I said, placing a hand on his shoulder, "What's the last thing you remember?"

He rubbed his temples, getting more sand in his hair. "Um… it's all kind of fuzzy after I left the bonfire. I remember getting to the Big House and walking up the steps. I was looking at the schedule, then…"

He trailed off. I looked at him expectantly.

"Then what?" I asked.

Malcolm blinked rapidly, the way he always did when he was thinking his hardest. "I… I can't remember!" he said in frustration. "It's all just black after that."

Juniper and I glanced at each other, wearing matching expressions of concern.

"Memories don't just disappear, Malcolm," I said doubtfully. "If you're kidding about this, I swear—"

"I'm serious!" he said desperately. "Please, Annabeth, you have to believe me!"

"Hmm…" Juniper muttered thoughtfully, twirling a strand of her hair on her finger. "Memories don't disappear, but maybe someone _took_ them from him?"

I eyed her with alarm. "Juniper, only gods have that kind of power."

"Not exactly," she said. "Maybe only gods can directly take memories out of your head, but making an amnesia potion isn't that hard. Some of the other dryads here can do it."

"You think someone _drugged_ me?" Malcolm's eyes were as big as saucers.

"I don't know," Juniper said, shaking her head. "It's a possibility."

I clenched my teeth. "Either way, whoever did this has to be in the camp, which means…"

"Kronos' spy." It might have been my imagination, but the air felt a little colder when Malcolm said that name. He brushed some of the sand out of his hair with his fingers. "We know he has at least one in the camp, right?"

I nodded grimly. "Maybe. I don't get why they'd attack you though. It would be a risk to their cover."

Malcolm sighed. "I dunno."

The sunlight got brighter as the sun rose higher over the horizon. I shook my head with dislike. Camp Half-Blood was supposed to be _safe_. Recently, it had been anything but.

"Let's get you back," I said, looking at Malcolm. "Maybe some Nectar will help you remember."

He nodded uneasily and pushed himself to his feet. "Yeah, good idea. I'm starving too."

I chuckled and got up. When I glanced at Juniper, she still looked worried.

"Can you ask your dryad friends about that amnesia potion?" I said. "If we know what's in it, we might be able to develop an anti-potion, assuming that's what's happened to Malcolm.

"Sure." Juniper nodded slowly. "I'll talk to them today."

"Thanks," I said gratefully, and then I looked at Malcolm, who was still picking sand out of his blond hair.

"Come on tough guy," I said playfully. "You need a shower."

He rolled his eyes but cracked a little smile. "Okay _mom._ "

I heard Juniper giggle at our antics as we set off back towards the camp.

* * *

I asked Malcolm not to tell the rest of our cabin about what had happened to him. Chiron had forbidden the general public from knowing about the spy, demanding that the counselors keep the knowledge limited to only our second-in-commands. The last thing we needed was to start a panic.

The story we went with was that he had come with me on a walk that morning. None of our half-siblings questioned it.

At breakfast, I got up from my table and walked over to the Big House's table. The head seat—Mr. D's—was unoccupied. He was out handling business at Olympus regarding the war. Chiron munched on an apple in his magic wheelchair right next to where Dionysus would normally be. Across the table from him sat Drew, who was drinking from a golden chalice.

She looked a whole lot better today. Despite just being dressed in a camp T-shirt and new shorts, she was stunning. I actually felt a little jealous. Her hair was perfect, and her makeup was done so well that it tempted me to try wearing some, even though I never wear makeup.

Drew looked at me questioningly as I neared them. She lowered her chalice and placed it on the table. I noticed that she was drinking Nectar.

"Did you come to give me a refill, hon?" Drew asked, a taunting smile on her lips.

I smiled, amused, and took a seat next to Chiron. "No, I came to talk."

"Hm," she said simply in reply.

"Oh!" Chiron said as I sat next to him. "Annabeth, good. I was just telling Drew you'd show her around today."

"Sure, I can do that," I said. "I'm going to need some Nectar, though."

Chiron's expression clouded. "Did something happen?"

Drew looked between us in confusion.

"Not to me," I said, choosing my words carefully. I wasn't about to let anything slip in front of a non-counselor, especially not a newcomer. "I just really need it."

Chiron obviously knew something was wrong, but I hoped he trusted me enough to just grant my request anyway.

"Very well," he said with a frown, handing me one of the golden chalices from the Big House table. They were the only ones in the camp that could summon Nectar. "Return it when you are done."

His narrow eyes on me said what his voice had not: _I expect an explanation later_.

"Thanks, Chiron!" I said, taking the cup. I glanced at Drew, who wore a blank expression. "Come talk to me after breakfast and I'll show you around, ok?"

"Yep, okay," she said sweetly.

I stood up and walked back towards the Athena table, where Malcolm was waiting. I glanced over and caught Percy eyeballing me as I went, but as soon as I looked at him, he looked away.

I shook my head and sighed. I reached the Athena table and sat down at the head. Malcolm was leaning on his elbow, but he perked up as I sat down.

"You got it?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said, handing him the chalice, "Here. Not too much, okay?"

"I know, I know."

He took the cup and closed his eyes in concentration. With a little rush of wind, the vessel filled with a golden, glowing liquid.

I nodded encouragingly. "Drink up."

He tipped the cup back and chugged. The speed at which he drank it made me a little nervous, but I figured he could at least down one glass safely.

In just ten seconds, he drained it.

"Woah!" he sighed in satisfaction. "Man, I forgot how good that stuff is."

"Been a while since you had any?" I asked.

"Over a year," he admitted. "Remember that sword accident?"

I nodded, remembering when he had gotten a bad cut sparring. He had been lucky that Chiron was nearby with nectar, which had stopped the bleeding.

"What did it taste like?" I asked.

He laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck, reminding me of Percy. "My grandma's pies."

I smiled in response. "So… do you feel anything?" I asked, carefully.

"Oh! Right."

Malcolm closed his eyes and rubbed his temples with both hands. I could almost feel his intense focus. His face was strained, as though he was struggling on a mental bench press.

After about ten seconds, he opened his eyes and growled in annoyance. "Nothing."

I frowned. "It didn't work?"

Malcolm shrugged. "I feel the exact same. I mean, I feel healthier and stuff, but I still don't remember last night."

I groaned in frustration. So much for that plan.

"I mean…" he said, sounding deflated, "What if it wasn't someone that did this to me? What if I really did just forget everything somehow?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so, Malcolm. We're children of Athena—we don't forget."

"But if it was a poison, wouldn't have the Nectar healed me?"

"Maybe," I shrugged. "But Nectar doesn't fix everything."

He shuddered. "If a poison was so strong that not even Nectar could heal it, wouldn't it have killed me?"

I offered him a sympathetic smile. "You would think so, but magic doesn't always make sense."

Around us, campers were starting to clean up their plates. Half of our siblings had already left. Most were probably going to shower, since our daily reserved time was starting soon.

Malcolm looked uneasy. I could tell the fact that he'd lost the memory of last night was bothering him.

"Malcolm," I said. He looked at me. "It's okay, we'll figure it out, alright? I promise. We've got mom on our side. There's nothing we can't solve."

Malcolm smiled a little and nodded. "Yeah. You're right Annabeth, thanks."

I smiled gently. "Now go shower. You need it."

He laughed and stood up. "Alright. I'll talk to you later about… you know."

I nodded. Malcolm walked off, and I picked up the golden chalice he'd left behind. I was a little tempted to summon some Nectar for myself, but I resisted the urge. The stuff tasted great but it was dangerous, after all.

I glanced over to the Posiedon table, hoping to catch Percy looking at me again. To my disappointment, he was already gone. Instead, I saw Drew walking towards me.

"Hey," she said, stopping in front of me. "M'ready for that tour. You're Annabelle, right?"

"It's Annabeth," I said, standing up. Now that I finally got to stand next to her, I realized she _was_ pretty tall for a girl—only about an inch shorter than me.

"Oh, sorry," she said, extending her manicured hand towards me. "Drew."

I took it and shook. "Yeah, I was there when you were rescued yesterday."

"Were you?" she said, frowning. "I don't remember seeing you."

I blinked in surprise. "Really? I was right in front of you. I took your pulse."

"Hmm," she looked up and tapped her chin in thought. "I don't know! I guess I just forgot." She giggled.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. The girl was clearly ditzy. Whether it was an act or the truth I didn't know. I knew there were some girls that faked it. It was hard for me to get along with people like her, but I knew I had to.

"That's okay," I said. "Let me show you around."

"Alright!" she said enthusiastically, looking around the pavilion. "Where do we start?"

"Well," I said thoughtfully, "You've already seen the Big House, up the hill." I pointed to it.

She nodded. "I slept there last night."

"Right. That's where the camp staff stays. It's also got the infirmary, which is what you stayed in."

"Hm," she said idly.

"And this is the dining pavilion," I said, stating the obvious. "But since you've already seen those places, we'll just skip them in-depth. We'll start with the cabins, but first, I gotta return this." I held up the chalice.

Without waiting for a reply, I walked towards the Big House table, and Drew tagged along.

"Why'd you ask for that golden drink anyway?" she asked from behind me. "The horse guy told me it was dangerous."

"My friend is hurt," I said, telling a half-truth. I set the chalice down on the big table with the others.

"Will they be okay?"

"Probably," I said.

She didn't ask any further questions about it, thankfully. I turned to walk out of the dining pavilion. Drew matched my pace and walked beside me, eyeing people as they walked by. As we went, I noticed that most of the guys that we passed stared at her. I rolled my eyes. Of course they'd be interested in her.

"I _like_ it here," Drew said.

I glanced over at her with a little smile. "You'll come to love it. This place is home for me."

"Uh-huh," she said, mindlessly, watching a passing Apollo guy, who was around our age. I shook my head with an amused grin.

That reminded me—I never asked her age.

"How old are you?" I said.

"Thirteen," she said, glancing at me. "You?"

"Fourteen."

"How long have you been here?" she asked me, eyeballing another passing boy—I think he was a son of Hermes. He winked at her, but she didn't react.

"A long time," I said with a little laugh, and pointed to my necklace. "Each one of these is a year."

"Ohhh…" she mumbled. "So _that's_ what those mean. I thought they were some kind of awards."

I scoffed. "They are, more or less, awards for surviving the year."

"Surviving?" Drew looked at me with alarm. "The horse guy told me it was safe here!"

"His name is Chiron." I gave her a weak smile, trying not to be frustrated. "And normally, yeah, it's safe here. Crazy stuff's been happening lately, though…"

"Like what?"

"A battle, among other things."

Her look implied she wanted me to explain, but I didn't. When I didn't say anything, she changed the subject.

"Have you got a boyfriend?"

Well _that_ caught me off guard.

"I, uh…" I said, uncomfortably, and swallowed hard. "No, I don't."

Drew gaped at me. " _Seriously?_ "

"What?" I asked, confused by her response.

We stopped walking, having reached the middle of the cabins' yard. Drew stared at me like I was from another planet.

"You're, like, super pretty. And there's cute guys _everywhere_ ," she said, gesturing around. "Why in the world are you single?"

I snorted, ignoring the compliment. For some reason I doubted it was genuine. "Maybe I just don't want a boyfriend."

Drew squinted at me. "Uh-huh," she agreed, clearly not really believing me.

I rolled my eyes and put my hands on my hips. "Anyway, we're here. The cabins."

She broke her stare on me and looked around. Campers were milling about idly, socializing with their friends and preparing for the coming day. I found myself subconsciously scanning the crowd for Percy, but I didn't see him.

"Twelve houses," she said after a moment, crossing her arms. "Why so many?"

"One for each of the twelve Olympian gods," I explained.

"Which one do I stay in?"

"For now you'll be in Hermes," I said, pointing to cabin eleven.

She blinked in alarm. "Isn't he, like, the god of thieves? I'm not a thief."

"He's also the god of travelers," I said, trying not to sound too annoyed. It was a common question asked by new campers. "He takes all the children of minor gods and the unclaimed, like you."

"When do I get 'claimed'?"

I frowned. "We don't know. Some campers never get claimed at all. They just stay in the Hermes cabin permanently."

Drew sighed. "I hope I get claimed."

I smiled sympathetically. "Most people do. Don't worry too much."

"Which one do you stay in?"

"My mom is Athena. I stay in cabin six." I pointed to it, where Malcolm was arguing with one of our younger half-siblings on the porch, holding a towel in his hand. It seemed whatever our sibling was arguing with him about was delaying his shower.

"What's she the goddess of?"

"Wisdom and battle," I said proudly.

"Oh… sorry," Drew said with a frown.

I raised an eyebrow at her accusingly. "What do you mean 'sorry'?"

She shrugged. "Just sounds like a lame god. Wisdom? Bor- _ing_! Unless you can blow people up with knowledge…"

I had the sudden urge to punch her, but I managed to contain it.

"Whose cabin is that?" Drew asked, pointing to cabin ten.

I looked at the cabin, which had a blue and white checkerboard deck and purple columns. "Oh, that's the Aphrodite cabin—number ten."

"It's cute," she remarked.

I tried not to gag. Personally, I hate the way it looks. The colors are nauseatingly bright.

"Yeah," I lied enthusiastically. "Let's move on though. You can look around the cabins later."

"Hm," she said. I'd learned to interpret that as some kind of uninterested agreement.

I started to walk back the way we came. She caught up and walked beside me again.

"So…" she said as we walked, "do you get any superpowers, since your mom is a goddess?"

I chuckled. "Not really. Athena is relatively minor compared to some of the other Olympians."

"Goddess of wisdom, huh? Are you, like, really smart?"

"Smart enough."

"But some demigods do get powers, right?" she asked, with a weird tone.

"Well, some do," I said with a shrug. "Most of them aren't that powerful, though. For example, most of the kids of Demeter have botanomancy."

It was hard not to laugh at her blank look. "What now?" she said, baffled.

I rolled my eyes. "They can control plants, but only small ones."

"Okay, but some do have strong powers?"

I nodded. "Kids of the Big Three—Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades—are always powerful. It's rare, but sometimes the other Olympians will have powerful half-bloods too."

"I see," she said. I noticed she sounded kind of uncomfortable.

"Something wrong?" I asked, glancing at her.

"No, nothing."

I decided to leave it at that. I figured she was just disappointed to find out she probably wouldn't have superpowers. I knew from experience exactly how disappointing it was.

We walked in silence the rest of the way to the training arena. As we approached, Drew gaped at the half-bloods swinging swords at each other.

"Isn't that dangerous?" she asked, sounding a little scared. "Why don't they practice with, I dunno, wooden swords?"

"It's best to practice like you play," I said, using an old quote from my dad.

Drew looked at me, confused. "Huh?"

"Wouldn't you rather be trained with a real sword for when you have to fight real monsters?" I explained.

"Oh… yeah. I guess so." Drew said, her expression darkening.

"Had some run-ins with monsters?" I guessed, based on her reaction.

She shuffled uncomfortably. "Too many."

I didn't push the subject. I planned to ask her later about how she got to camp, but I didn't want to immediately. I knew from experience that it could be traumatic. It definitely was for me.

"Come on, let's go watch," I said, trying to cheer her up. "There's a class going on, I think."

She nodded and followed me as I led her to the spectator benches, where some younger half-bloods sat, observing the class. It wasn't until Drew and I sat down and started watching that I realized my mistake—Percy was in front of the crowd, teaching the class.

The Hermes cabin watched as he demonstrated a simple disarming technique, using Travis Stoll as his model. He skillfully twisted Riptide and smacked Travis' sword out of his hand, sending it clattering to the floor.

I cursed my stupidity under my breath. I should have checked the schedule last night. If Percy saw me in the spectator area, he'd probably think I was stalking him or something.

It was kind of weird to think of Percy as an instructor at camp. Only three years ago, Luke had been doing the job Percy was doing now. In a lot of ways, Percy had replaced Luke at Camp Half-Blood. The younger male campers really looked up to him the way they used to look up at Luke.

"It's him!" Drew said excitedly, leaning forward.

I was surprised—she had almost seemed bored with the tour thus far, but now she was giving her undivided attention.

"Who?"

"Him," she said, pointing at Percy. "He's the guy who rescued me yesterday, right? What's his name again?"

I got a bad feeling. "Oh, that's Percy Jackson."

Drew almost swooned. "He's so _hot_ , don't you think?"

I laughed nervously, trying to keep the heat out of my face. I'd listened to other girls gush about Percy before, but they had never asked my opinion on it. "I… I guess."

Percy instructed all the campers to pair up and try the technique themselves. The Hermes kids obeyed, and the training arena quickly became a buzz of activity as weapons clashed.

"How old is he? Who's is god parent? He's not dating anyone, is he?" She fired the questions so rapidly I felt a little overwhelmed.

"He's fourteen. Son of Poseidon."

"The sea god?" Drew glanced at me in surprise. I could practically see hearts in her eyes. "Ohmygosh, that means he's, like, super powerful, right?"

I cursed myself for telling her that only a few minutes earlier. "He can control water," I admitted. "He actually used it to get the water out of your lungs."

"That's _so_ cool," Drew said, staring at him. A mischievous smirk formed on her face. "He's like my hero, isn't he?"

I didn't like the sound of that, but I said nothing. Percy was _my_ hero, not hers. She didn't even know him.

We watched as he squared off with Connor Stoll this time. Even though they're friends, I could tell Percy was not going easy on him. Connor swiped horizontally at Percy, but he easily deflected with Riptide. Undeterred, Connor attacked again, this time slashing from the left. The two swords clashed twice as Percy parried two more blows. The second attack left Connor's footwork sloppy, and Percy capitalized. With impressive grace, he did a low-sweeping kick and knocked Connor's legs out from beneath him. The son of Hermes fell to the dirt with a _thud!_

"Wow…" Drew marveled at Percy as he laughed and helped Connor back to his feet. The two went back at it again, swiping and parrying. "Can I learn how to fight from him?"

I was getting really tired of listening to Drew gush about Percy, but she showed no signs of stopping. "Maybe," I said, trying not to sound too bitter. The girl was starting to make me mad in the same way Rachel Dare did.

"Come on," I said, desperate to get myself (and Drew) away from Percy. "Let's move on."

"Do we have to?" Drew complained, without even looking away from him.

"Yes."

She sighed and stood up. "Alright, fine. What's next?"

"We'll see."

We walked out of the training arena. I looked around, trying to decide where to take her.

 _Anywhere but here,_ the jealous side of my brain (that I often tried to ignore) told me. _Get her away from Percy._ I rubbed my face with my hand in frustration. Why did I have to be the one to escort her around? It was just my luck to be assigned this.

"Let's go see the stables," I said, finally.

Drew looked at me, surprised. "You have horses?"

I smirked knowingly. "You're in for a surprise."

* * *

"Is that a _pegasus_?!" Drew exclaimed, her eyes wide. Some of the campers tending the stables looked up at the new voice, but promptly returned to their work after seeing the stern glare I gave them.

I reached out and pet Blackjack on the nose. He sniffed my hand and gave me a questioning look, as if he expected me to bring him something, but he didn't protest when I stroked his fur.

I barely managed not to laugh at her excited smile. "Yes, he is."

"Can I pet him?" Drew asked, carefully putting her hand forward.

"Of course."

She giggled like a kid on Christmas when Blackjack nickered happily as she pet him. Blackjack was one of the friendliest of the pegasi we kept, and he was especially nice to me since he knew I was friends with Percy.

I chuckled, remembering when Percy had described Blackjack's weird personality. It was hard for me to believe at first that Percy could actually talk to horses, but he had confirmed it to me last summer by having Blackjack follow his instructions perfectly, with no training at all.

"Can it really fly?" Drew asked as she admired the pegasus' black wings.

"Yep! Learning to ride is one of the most popular activities."

"I can't wait…" she muttered, scratching Blackjack behind his ear. "Do I get to choose which one I learn to ride?"

I frowned. "No, you don't, unfortunately. It would just take too long."

"Aw," Drew said, disappointed. "But this one seems to like me!"

"Well, that one actually doesn't let many people ride him. He's not camp property. One of the campers owns him personally."

"Who?" Drew asked.

I silently groaned. I should have known she would ask that. "The guy from the arena—Percy."

"Are you serious?" she said. Her expression perked up instantly at the mention of Percy. "He's good looking, has superpowers, is amazing with a sword, _and_ owns a flying horse?"

"Uh… I mean—"

"I am _so_ gonna ask him out," Drew gushed, grinning even wider as she pet Blackjack's nose. "Flying together on this guy would be such a dream date…"

I ground my teeth together. Drew was _really_ starting to test my patience without even trying. Probably without even realizing she was doing it, too. I tried to stay calm, but it wasn't easy.

Thankfully, I was distracted from my anger when another set of hooves came clopping into the stables, but it wasn't a pegasus. I turned to see Chiron walking up to us.

"Hello Drew, Annabeth," Chiron said in his usual respectful tone, but I could tell that something was off. He looked concerned. "How is your tour going?"

"Amazing!" Drew said with dreamy grin. "I love this place already."

"It's going fine," I nodded in agreement, filtering away my mental frustration.

"I'm glad to hear it," Chiron said uneasily, "but unfortunately, we're going to have to cut it short. Something came up and I have to steal Annabeth. Drew, how about you go get settled in at the Hermes cabin? You remember the way back, right?"

She removed her hand from Blackjack and nodded. "Yeah, just down the path."

"Good," Chiron said with a forced smile. "Just walk right in and find Travis Stoll. His cabin should be back from training by now."

"Okay!" Drew smiled sweetly and waved to us. "Bye, Chiron, Annabelle!"

My right hand tightened into a frustrated fist, but I managed to wave back with my left. Drew walked out of the stables, earning looks from all the boys working as she did.

As soon as she was gone, Chiron's cheerful façade crumbled. He looked at me somberly.

"We have a situation," he said.

"You heard what happened?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. I still hadn't told him, but I guess Malcolm might have.

Chiron looked down at me, confused. "Follow me, and let's talk."

I looked around. Some of the stable hands were watching us. They probably weren't trying to, but they'd end up eavesdropping unintentionally if we talked here.

I nodded, and the two of us walked outside, putting some distance between ourselves and any other campers. We ended up standing near the fence across the path from the stables. We got some looks from passing campers, but it was private enough.

Chiron looked at me expectantly, "You first."

I nodded, thinking of how to start. "You know Malcolm, my second-in-command."

He nodded.

"He…" I started to say, but reconsidered. "Well, I found him on the beach this morning, passed out."

Chiron looked alarmed, but he nodded once again, encouraging me to continue.

"He tells me that he can't remember last night," I admitted. "Apparently he walked up to the Big House to check the schedule, and that's the last thing he remembers before I woke him up."

"Is that why you asked for Nectar this morning?"

I nodded. "We thought it might restore his memory, but it didn't work. We're worried that someone did this to him intentionally. You know," I said, looking around to make sure nobody was listening. I lowered my tone to a whisper, "the spy."

Chiron looked disturbed. He used a hand to stroke his chin in thought. "This is not good," he said ominously.

"What do you know?" I asked, worried.

He breathed deeply, closing his eyes. "Argus just returned an hour ago. I hadn't seen him since last night."

My eyes widened in realization. "Don't tell me that he—"

"Yes." Chiron said, shaking his head with dislike. "Just like your brother, he can't remember anything. Apparently he woke up next to Thalia's Pine."

My mind raced, trying to explain it all. It disturbed me greatly that Argus had also fallen victim to… well, whatever it was.

"That means that whatever it is that's doing this is attacking indiscriminately," I said, my eyes wide. "Not just demigods."

Chiron nodded. His eyes finally opened again. They were filled with worry.

"What does it all mean?" I asked.

"I don't know."

"Why would it just knock people out and move them across the camp? I don't get it."

He shook his head. "Neither do I."

A momentary silence fell between us. It really didn't make sense at all—Malcolm hadn't had anything stolen from him. He hadn't been physically hurt. He'd just had his memories taken and had been moved far away.

"Notify the counselors," Chiron said in a hushed tone. "We're having a meeting tonight. Usual time, usual place."

I swallowed hard and nodded. I had hoped we wouldn't need any more defense committee meetings this summer, but it seemed that wasn't case. Now that we knew Malcolm's attack was not a one-time thing, it was a big deal. A meeting made sense.

"I will."

"And, Annabeth?" Chiron said, quietly.

I glanced up at him.

"Watch your back," he said, looking around with suspicion. "I fear whatever's doing this will target its threats. If it finds out that you're looking for it, then…"

I gulped. "I'll be on the lookout."

He gave me a worried smile, then trotted off, leaving me dumbfounded.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Wanderers

I like to think I'm good chemist. I do my research. I plan my reactions beforehand. I calculate how much of each substance I need, then I measure and re-measure to ensure that mistakes don't happen. Unfortunately, my experience in science lab at school didn't translate well to alchemy. The fact that I was using an old mortal DIY chemistry set in lieu of a real transmutation table wasn't helping. When the third incomplete potion burst into flames on the fourth step, I was starting to lose my patience.

"Need a little help here!" I snapped at Malcolm, who was lounging on the stool beside me, paying more attention to his paperback novel than to the hazardous chemicals I was handling.

He looked up in surprise, registering the problem, and then he quickly grabbed the fire extinguisher at his feet. After my first attempt had nearly seared a hole through the surface of my desk, he knew to have it on hand. With haste, Malcolm leveled the extinguisher's hose towards the green flames billowing out of the beaker. I had expected him just to use a little, but he held the trigger down, overdoing it. Everything in my desk's general direction was coated in a storm of fire retardant powder.

Unfortunately, that included me. I coughed and fanned my hand in front of my face, trying to clear the air of the dense fog, which made it hard to breathe. I could hardly see what was going on, since my goggles had been coated in the stuff. I could feel it all over my forearms and in my hair. I thanked the gods I was wearing an old lab coat. At least my clothes would stay clean.

"Malcolm! That's enough!"

He stopped spraying, but the damage had already been done. I was filthy, and my desk was even worse. I eyed him sharply.

"You didn't need to use so much, you know."

He raised an eyebrow defensively. "I got the fire, didn't I?"

"You got _me_ too."

Malcolm snorted. "What happened? Did you get Juniper's formula mixed up with the Greek fire?"

I removed my goggles and rubbed my eyes. The powder was starting to settle into a coat of fine dust on the floor. I groaned—that was going to be a pain to clean up later.

"No, these instructions are just awful."

In my defense, it was true. Even though they were written in ancient Greek, I could hardly read them. The steps practically contained a grammatical error every sentence and were scrawled in atrocious handwriting. Furthermore, the notation Juniper's friend used hardly made any sense. Even the diagrams left much to be desired. Worst of all, a few of the reactions called for substances that I'm not sure are even possible to obtain. How in the world did some dryad expect me to get Lethean water?

In frustration, I wiped my forearms clean and turned to look in the mirror. I looked ridiculous. My face was completely coated in white powder, except for around my eyes, where my goggles had been. My wavy hair looked bleached, not blond.

"What went wrong?" Malcolm asked me, setting the fire extinguisher back down on the floor.

"If only I knew," I muttered, trying my best to wipe the dust off my face. I was only mildly successful; most of it ended up just getting smeared around.

"Are you gonna try again?"

I sighed. I hated to let Malcolm down, but my frustration was starting to inhibit my thinking. I glanced at the clock, which read 4:39 PM.

"No," I said in defeat. "I think I'm done for today. Besides, I have the meeting soon."

He nodded and hung his head. "Well… thanks for trying, I guess."

I managed an apologetic smile. "Don't worry, I'm not giving up."

"Why can't we just ask the dryads to make it for us?"

"I tried, but they refused," I said. "Juniper told me that a few have made amnesia potions before, but none of them have ever made an antidote. A few of them don't even think it's possible. The optimistic ones just gave me their best guess."

"And their best guess isn't good enough." Malcolm growled in annoyance. He clapped his book closed. "Just my luck."

He sulked over to his bunk, where he flopped down on his back dejectedly, and stared at the ceiling with his arms crossed. I heard him mutter something about useless spirits. I rubbed my eyebrows in exasperation. It had been a long day.

Numbly, I started the lengthy task of cleaning up. Normally I would have asked Malcolm to help me, but he didn't seem to be in the 'helping mood'.

The front door opened. I glanced over from what I was doing to see Percy standing in the doorway. He looked confused for a few seconds, then a sardonic smile formed on his lips. I inwardly cursed his awful timing. Of course he'd wander in right after I'd gotten a powder shower.

"Hey," Percy said, looking at me like he was struggling not to laugh. He glanced around the room, "Oh, and hey Malcolm."

"Hi," I said flatly, not appreciating how amused he was acting with my appearance.

"Hi Percy," Malcolm muttered in a bored tone, not even looking at him.

"So…" Percy looked back at me. "Did you two have a flour fight or something?"

I snorted. Malcolm chuckled.

"It was a fire extinguisher, actually," I said, matter-of-factly.

He eyed me with alarm. "Wait, you had a fire in here?"

"Don't worry, my brother made _very_ sure it was taken care of."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "You were on fire?"

"What? No!"

"Huh." Percy's lopsided grin returned. "Then he must be a bad shot."

My stern façade cracked a little. I almost smiled. "What do you need, Percy?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, Beckendorf told me we have a meeting in a few minutes. I just wanted to make sure that's true."

I nodded, glancing at the clock again. "Yeah, in like twenty."

"I… was also gonna ask you if you wanted to walk up early with me."

I blinked in surprise. Percy wanted to spend time with me? In truth, I really wanted to accept, but there was no way I was going up to the meeting wearing my lab coat and covered in fire extinguisher powder. I'm not vain, but I'm not a pig either.

"Oh. I… I can't," I said, unsteadily. "I've uh, gotta clean up first."

His face fell. "Oh, right," he said, a little awkwardly. "Sorry I asked."

"No, no! It's fine." I gave him an apologetic smile. "Next time for sure."

"Uh-huh." He didn't smile back. "I'll leave you to it. Seeya there, I guess."

"See you."

As quickly as he came, he left. I sighed when the door closed behind him. We just couldn't seem to have a decent conversation anymore.

Malcolm's voice broke me from my thoughts. "You two are a mess."

"Oh, why do I even put up with you, Malcolm?"

"Because I'm the best assistant counselor ever?" he asked, joking half-heartedly.

"True."

I smiled weakly as I stood up and removed my lab coat, hanging it on its hook on the wall. I still had to clean up and get ready, and I only had a few minutes to do it. No time to waste.

* * *

When I walked into the Big House rec room five minutes late, I got a lot of annoyed glances. Clarisse looked especially irritated. Not even I was completely immune to her glares. The one she gave me just then made me think she was imagining how I'd look as a kebab on Maimer. It almost made me regret spending a few minutes to take a quick shower before coming. Almost.

"Ah, Annabeth," said Chiron, who was in his magic wheelchair in the corner of the room. "Good, now we can begin."

"Sorry I'm late," I said, scanning the room for Percy. He was sitting on the couch, talking to Beckendorf. When I looked at him, he glanced away, avoiding my gaze.

"That's quite alright," Chiron said. "Take a seat and we'll get started."

I nodded and plopped down in a beanbag chair. The talking in the room died down.

"First things first," the centaur announced. "I thank you all for coming today. I had hoped that the meeting last week would be the summer's last, but I fear this one is necessary."

There was an uneasy tension in the room. Chiron had finally said what everyone was thinking. Nobody wanted to be here. After the Battle of the Labyrinth, we had all hoped that camp would be safe at least for the rest of the summer. But defense meetings indicated that camp was threatened. They forced us to face the truth.

"So what's happening?" Travis Stoll asked cautiously.

Chiron gazed at me grimly. "I will allow Annabeth to explain first."

All the counselor's eyes turned towards me. Some looked worried, some looked shocked, and some just looked bored. I took a deep breath.

"You all know my second-in-command, Malcolm." There were some nods. I hesitated for a second, trying to decide how to explain the bizarre experience he had described to me. "Well, this morning, I found him unconscious on the beach."

"What?" Percy looked surprised. "He's okay right? He seemed fine like fifteen minutes ago."

I nodded apprehensively. "Physically, he's fine. But what's weird is that he can't remember anything about how he got there. He just woke up on the sand when I found him."

There was a short silence as the news sunk in.

"So what? Maybe he just forgot," Clarisse said dismissively.

I shook my head. "Athena's children have perfect memory. We don't forget."

She narrowed her eyes on me suspiciously. "You don't _usually_ forget. I think you're just too proud to admit that it's possible."

I tightened my jaw, trying to ignore the passive insult to my whole cabin. "Just wait until you hear the whole story. He didn't forget the memory, someone took it from him."

"How's that possible?" questioned Silena Beauregard, who sat on the opposite side of Beckendorf as Percy. "Memory manipulation is really powerful magic."

I shook my head helplessly. "We don't know. But I've already tried Nectar and Ambrosia on Malcolm. Nothing worked."

Clarisse snorted, still looking unconvinced. "The kid probably got conked on the head. Would explain both the fainting and the memory loss."

"But he would be in pain," I said, shaking my head again. "Like I said—he's not hurt. A blow to his head also doesn't explain how he mysteriously ended up on the beach."

Clarisse squinted at me, not backing down. "Then what do you think happened, huh? You _really_ think some god came down here and stole memories from him?"

I swallowed hard. "No," I admitted, "but I do have a theory. Chiron, do you want to tell your side of the story before we talk about possibilities?"

Chiron nodded grimly. All eyes turned to him. "Annabeth is correct. We have reason to believe that Malcolm did not simply forget."

"What's the reason?" Clarisse asked, crossing her arms.

"He is not the only one who went missing last night," Chiron said. "Argus told me he experienced the exact same thing."

Everyone looked shocked.

"Argus _talked_?" Percy asked in disbelief.

I wanted to slap my face in frustration. "Percy! That's not the point."

"I know… I'm just saying."

"You found him on the beach too?" asked Katie Gardner, who looked a little scared.

Chiron shook his head. "No, he actually returned on his own. Apparently he woke up by the big tree. But just like Annabeth's brother, he can't remember anything."

"And that's why I doubt this is nothing," I said earnestly. "All of a sudden, both a camper and a staff member both wake up across camp with no memory of how they got there? That's not a coincidence, if you ask me. Someone did this to them on purpose."

Clarisse frowned, "Okay, fine, so it's probably not a coincidence. But how could someone do this?"

Beckendorf glanced questioningly over to me. "What's your theory, Annabeth?"

I hesitated for a moment, before saying, "I think they've been poisoned."

There were uneasy murmurings. Connor and Travis Stoll looked at one another with concern. Michael Yew frowned.

"I don't think so," Michael said. "You're talking about an amnesia potion right? But they don't work like that."

I looked at him, surprised. "You know about them?"

"Sure," he said dismissively. "I hear making them isn't really that hard, it's getting the ingredients that's tricky."

I almost cursed out loud. Why hadn't I thought of asking the Apollo cabin about this? They're the best healers in the camp. If anyone would know how to make an antidote, it would be them.

"Can it be cured?" I asked.

Michael shook his head. "They're made with distilled water from the river Lethe. The only cures are hypothetical. Nobody's ever recovered from it before. But…"

"But what?" Percy questioned.

His frown deepened. "Well, you see, amnesia poisons destroy all memories. The Lethean water in them is dilute, so just touching it won't make you forget anything, but if it gets in your body, you're like a newborn baby."

"But Malcolm only lost some of his memories," Percy pointed out.

Michael nodded grimly. "That's why I don't think it was a poisoning at all."

"Then how did it happen?" Percy questioned.

There was an uncomfortable silence when nobody offered an alternate explanation. Everyone's eyes darted around, but all the counselors looked equally blank. Chiron's expression was hard to read, as usual.

"It's probably the spy that did it, right?" asked Travis. Everyone looked uncomfortable at the mention of the fact that there was a traitor amongst the campers.

"How would that be possible?" Silena countered, "Not even Hecate's children can take memories, and they're the best at manipulating Mist."

"For all I care, the spy could have used brain surgery to remove the memories," Travis said, wearing the sarcastic Hermes grin. I shot him a look that read, _You're not helping_. He seemed unfazed, and continued, "What I'm saying is we should focus on the 'who' and the 'why', not the 'how'. When my siblings steal stuff from me, I'm usually able to figure out who did it before I figure out how they did it."

"That is the right idea," Chiron said. "What matters the most is that we find who did this and remove the threat. The method used should come to light with the perpetrator."

"Okay, so how do we do that?" asked Percy. "Most of the camp doesn't even know we have a spy. It's not like we can just walk around and ask people if they've seen anything suspicious."

"We have to think like private investigators," said Travis, grinning. "This might even be fun!"

Clarisse frowned at him. "Don't be stupid. There's a lot at stake here."

"No," I said, tilting my head. "His idea isn't actually that bad. We should consider the scene of the crime."

Surprisingly Percy seemed to get the idea. "Ok, what's the last thing that Malcolm and Argus remember?"

"Well, Malcolm tells me the last thing he remembers is looking at the schedule on the Big House porch."

Everyone looked at Chiron, who said, "As I understand it, Argus was in the Big House too."

"Then that must be where it all went down," Percy said, drawing the conclusion that I had already made mentally. "Was anyone else there?"

"Dionysus is still absent," Chiron said thoughtfully, "And I was at the dining pavilion cleaning up, so besides them…"

My eyes went wide with realization. "The new girl. Drew. She was there too! She slept in the Big House last night. Chiron, she didn't disappear before breakfast, did she?"

"No," Chiron said, rubbing his chin. "She was there this morning when I woke up."

"Then she must have done it!" Silena cried, "Why would the two other people in the Big House get attacked but not her?"

A few heads nodded in agreement, but Chiron said, "Seeing as the girl arrived just yesterday, she can't be the one that has been leaking information thus far."

"That doesn't make her innocent, though," Michael Yew cut in. "We don't even know how she ended up in the water yesterday. How do we know she's not in line with Kronos?"

I stood up. "We don't, but I plan to change that. What we need is more information. There are too many unknowns. Chiron, is it okay if I interrogate her?"

"Less of an interrogation, more of a discussion," Chiron said. "But yes, I approve."

"Then I'm coming too," Percy said, standing with me.

"I don't think that's a good idea," I said carefully, remembering how Drew had behaved around Percy earlier today. He would only complicate things.

He shook his head adamantly. "I can't let you do this alone. If she really did this to Argus and Malcolm, she's dangerous. I'm coming with you."

I narrowed my eyes on him in annoyance, letting my pride get the better of me. "Are you saying I can't handle myself?"

"What? I never—"

"Annabeth," Chiron cut off our argument, "Percy is right. It would be wise if you went together. If she can truly cause what happened to Malcolm and Argus, I hate to think what else she might be capable of."

I knew it was a bad idea, but I agreed. "Okay, fine," I said, crossing my arms.

"Now then," Chiron said wearily. "Does anyone else have anything to add before we dismiss?"

All were silent. I sent Percy an annoyed look. He frowned in response. I felt the other counselor's eyes flickering between me and Percy, probably enjoying the drama.

"Very well. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you for coming."

The counselors started to stand and shuffle out of the room. I stayed where I was, watching as everyone else left. Clarisse sent me a pointed look as she walked off. Percy stayed as well, idly fidgeting with his fingers.

Once all the counselors except for Percy and I had left the room, Chiron looked at the two of us sternly. "When you talk to her, make sure you use restraint."

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused. Interrogations weren't gentle procedures.

"Drew is a new camper," Chiron said. "This is only her second day. She probably has nothing to do with this. Your interrogation is a long shot. If it turns out we are wrong, it will make her feel very unwelcome. The last thing we need is more campers deserting."

I swallowed hard, realizing what he was saying. If we questioned her too hard, we might drive her right into Kronos' clutches.

"We'll go easy on her, don't worry," Percy said. He turned to me. "You ready to go?"

I nodded stoically. "Let's get this over with."

* * *

Percy and I walked through the evening in silence to the Hermes cabin. I hated how uncomfortable it felt just being with him. Gone were the days where we could hang out and talk about anything at all like it was the most natural thing ever. I thought about how much I missed the way it used to be.

When we walked up to the Hermes doorstep, we could hear the usual ruckus from inside. Percy knocked loudly on the door to ensure that he was heard over all the shouting and arguing going on. After a few seconds, the door opened, revealing Travis.

"You here for her?" he asked warily.

Percy nodded in response. "Did you tell her we were coming?"

"Yeah, but I didn't say why. Just said you two wanted to talk to her. She actually seems pretty excited about it, for some reason."

I barely managed not to growl. I knew exactly why she was excited, and it had nothing to do with me.

Travis turned around and shouted back into the chaotic cabin, "Drew! Visitors for you!"

I heard the thumping of feet on hardwood—someone was running towards the door. Travis stepped aside, and Drew swung the door open with a big smile on her face.

"Hi Percy!" she exclaimed, beaming widely at him. When her gaze fell on me, her expression faltered slightly. "Oh, and Annabelle. What can I do for you?"

"Anna- _beth_ ," I corrected sternly. Between forgetting my name and the way she was looking at Percy, Drew was already getting on my nerves. "We need to talk."

"Hey Drew," Percy replied nonchalantly. "We just want to get know you a little better, you know? Can you come with us?"

Drew had looked hesitant when I had said it, but after Percy asked she nodded in immediate agreement. "Of course! Where are we going?"

"How about the dock?" Percy suggested, "The lake is nice in the evening."

Percy shot me a questioning glance, as if to make sure I approved. I just shrugged. It didn't matter to me where we did it as long as we could get her to talk.

"I'd love that," Drew said, smiling. She looked around. "Which way is it?"

Percy laughed and turned towards the path. "C'mon, we'll show you."

* * *

It was only a short walk to the canoe lake, but to me, it felt like hours. As we went, I trailed a few feet behind Drew and Percy, who were chatting away like long lost best friends. Drew kept herself busy stroking his ego, asking him questions she knew would allow him to subtly boast.

"So you're the son of Poseidon, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's me."

"Did you use your superpowers when you saved me from the ocean?"

He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "They're not really superpowers. The water just obeys me."

"Oh c'mon, you don't have to be modest! I've heard you're amazing! The kids in my cabin told me you're powers are unbelievable."

"I guess they're pretty cool."

"I would have drowned if you hadn't stepped in."

Percy shrugged. "I couldn't just watch that happen."

"You saved my life," she pointed out shyly, locking her fingers together behind her back. "I think that's more than 'pretty cool'. Thank you."

He glanced over to her and smiled warmly. "That's what friends are for, right?"

I ground my teeth together. Who did she think she was? She wasn't being subtle at all as she flirted with him. Somehow, Percy didn't seem to notice. For once, I was grateful for his obliviousness.

"Is it true that you slayed Medusa?" she asked.

"Well yeah, but I couldn't have done it without Annabeth's help," he said, glancing back at me. "You remember that?"

I offered him a half-hearted smile and nodded. "It's a shame I was there to save you. You would have made a nice statue," I said. Drew gazed at me with dislike. I could tell she didn't appreciate that I'd taken his attention off her.

"Is that a compliment or an insult?" he asked, bewildered.

"Both."

He laughed, then he looked back at Drew, who seemed pleased to have his focus once more. "Anyway, yeah. It was on my first quest, back when I was twelve."

I sighed as the two resumed their chatter. It hurt me especially badly that Percy seemed to be enjoying it as much as Drew was. The two of them talking reminded me a little bit of what he and I used to have.

Thankfully, before their talking could torture me for too long, we reached our destination. The beach might be the best place in the camp to watch the sunrise, but the canoe lake is without a doubt the best place to watch the sunset.

Percy took off his shoes and sat down on the edge of the dock, letting his feet dangle into the water. Drew and I followed suit, sitting on opposite sides of him.

"So Drew," I said, forcing a cheerful attitude, "How did you enjoy your first night in the Big House?"

"It was nice I guess," she said, idly kicking her toes in the water. "s'Kinda boring though… I think I like the cabin better."

"You didn't get to visited by anyone in the infirmary?" I asked.

"The horse guy." Drew glanced over at me. "Kyrion, or Kyrreigh, or whatever."

"Chiron?" Percy offered.

"Yeah! Chiron," she grinned thankfully at him.

"You didn't see anyone else?" I asked, narrowing my eyes on her.

She tapped her chin in thought. "Yeah, I also talked to some annoying boy and—" Suddenly, she looked like she was gonna throw up. "Oh yeah! I met this super gross monster with eyes _all_ over its face. I thought monsters couldn't get into the camp! What was up with that?"

Percy and I looked at each other with matching expressions of surprise.

"The boy you met," Percy said, uncomfortably. "Did he tell you his name?"

"Well no," Drew shrugged. "He came in and started asking me a bunch of questions. I was tired, so I just told him to go away."

"Did he have blond hair?" I asked.

"Uh-huh," said Drew. She looked at me. "And gray eyes— Wait, just like you!"

I nodded, narrowing my eyes on her. Now that was suspicious. Malcolm hadn't said anything about meeting her. "My brother, Malcolm."

She snorted. "You need to teach him some manners, hon. He was being awfully rude. He wouldn't leave when I asked. I had to yell it at him to get him out."

"What about Argus?" Percy asked. "You said you met him?"

"Who?" she asked, confused. "The monster?"

Percy nodded. "The dude with all the eyes. He's like the camp watchman."

Drew's face reddened slightly. "Oh… whoops. I didn't know he was staff. I just told him to leave me alone. He's lucky I didn't hit him."

"I don't blame you." Percy scratched the back of his neck bashfully. "He freaked me out too when I first got here. He's actually a cool guy, but he never talks."

I wasn't about to let Percy get off track. "Did they say where they were going when they left you?"

Drew frowned. "No. I didn't ask."

I knew that my next question would probably make her suspicious, but I was tired of beating around the bush. "Were they acting weird?"

"What?" Drew said, confused. "No. I mean, a little maybe, but it wasn't anything too strange. They just left in a hurry. Why do you ask? Did something happen?"

Percy glanced at me questioningly. I tightened my jaw and nodded. He looked back at Drew and said, "Well, yeah. They both went missing last night, and neither remembers anything about it. We think you were the last person to see them."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "God, are you serious? They're okay right?"

"They're fine," I assured her. "We just want to know what happened."

Percy nodded in agreement. "Did you see anything or hear anything, I dunno, out of the ordinary? Or do you know anything about it?"

Drew shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know anything about them. But I'll tell you something if you promise not to call me crazy."

Percy and I glanced at each other again in surprise. "We won't," he said, seriously. "You can tell us anything."

I saw her swallow. "I don't remember how I got here," she said anxiously.

My eyes widened. I had been meaning to ask her about how she'd come to end up in the water for a while now, but I never expected her to volunteer the information.

"You don't?" I asked, alarmed.

"No," she said miserably. She brought her legs up out of the water and hugged them to her chest. "Yesterday morning, I was out in the city, when this weird-looking girl started following me. At first I was just kinda creeped out, but when she got closer, I saw she was some kind of monster or something!" Drew shivered, hugging her legs tighter. "Her legs, oh god… her legs were so horrifying. One was like a horse's, and the other was like a robot's."

Percy grimaced. "An Empousa." I nodded in agreement.

"You've seen one before?"

"Unfortunately, yeah," he said, rubbing his arm sheepishly. "Two caused me to set my school on fire like a month ago."

Drew blinked in surprise at what Percy said, but didn't question it. After seeing one herself, I guess the news didn't surprise her so much.

"Anyway," she continued, still looking scared, "I… I just ran. I had no idea what to do—I yelled and screamed for help. I was running through a crowded clothing store, but people just looked at me like I was an idiot! I don't even think they could see the monster."

"The Mist hides the mythological world from the mortals' eyes," I explained.

"Yeah… Chiron told me," she sighed. "The last thing I remember is hiding in the changing room. I could hear the thing's footsteps coming towards me. But… but that's where it ends. The next thing I knew, I was in the ocean, and you were saving me." She smiled at Percy.

I frowned, considering it. If she was lying, she was doing a really good job of it. The story she gave coincided extremely well with the description Malcolm had given about what had happened to him.

"I'm gonna be okay, right?" Drew asked with fear in her voice. "I'm not, like, sick or something, am I?"

"No," I decided, "but I do think that what happened to you is connected to what happened to Argus and Malcolm."

Percy nodded in agreement. "It's gotta be. Memory loss? Waking up far away from where you were at first? That's exactly what happened to them."

"Okay, good," she sighed in relief. "After— after these past few days, I was scared I was going insane."

"What do you mean?" Percy asked, tilting his head. "You seemed to take everything at camp pretty well."

"Not that," Drew shook her head. "I mean… before I came to camp. With my dad telling me my long-lost mom is some kind of goddess, and then the monster…"

"Your dad _told_ you you're a half-blood?" I asked, surprised. All parents knew it was just safer to keep us ignorant. "When?"

Her eyes fell to the floor. "Yesterday. I found out the morning before I got here. We've been fighting about my mom a lot lately. You see, he's always been, like, touchy about her. He sent me to boarding school for summer since I wouldn't stop asking. He would never even tell me her name."

"But he did?" Percy asked.

"No." Drew hung her head. "But he did tell me what she was. I was yelling at him on the phone, demanding to know why he'd never let me know anything about her. I guess he cracked or something… he told me she was a goddess, and he said that I'm a demigod. I thought he was lying. I got so mad that I went shopping to comfort myself. That's when I ran into the donkey-thing."

There was a short silence. The sun was starting to disappear behind the hills. Across the lake, I could see demigods walking towards the dining pavilion.

"Well, that's why the monster attacked you, then," I explained. "The more we know about what we are, the more easily they can smell us."

She nodded, still looking distraught. "Chiron told me. He said I can't even leave camp anymore. I just… I just hope my dad isn't too mad at me."

"You can send him a letter," Percy said. "You probably should, so he knows where you are and doesn't freak out when you don't answer your phone."

"I will." Drew carefully lowered her feet back into the water.

There was a conch horn blast in the distance, signaling all campers to report to the dining pavilion for the evening meal. It also signaled the end to our interrogation. Thankfully, it had gone pretty well, all things considered. We had found out Drew wasn't only innocent—she was also a victim.

"That's dinner," I said, standing up to leave. "We should probably get going."

I'd reached the end of the dock when I heard Drew say, "Wait!"

I looked back, thinking Drew been talking to me. I was wrong—she was talking to Percy. It looked like he had been getting up, but she had grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Huh?" he said.

Drew looked apprehensive, like she was scared of what she was about to say. I got a sick feeling in my stomach. She wasn't about to—

"Let's hang out some more sometime."

I went numb. She wasn't technically asking Percy out, but I could tell that was what she meant. I had known that she had been planning to ask him out eventually—she had told me she would, after all—but it still horrified me.

A dopey smile formed on Percy's face. "Sure," he said, "whatever you want."

His words cut through me like knives. The look on his face was even worse. It brought back so many emotions. I'd seen that look on his face once before—right after I'd kissed him in Mt. St. Helen's. But this time, he wasn't looking at me.

I turned and stormed away, unable to watch anymore. They probably didn't even notice me leave. I couldn't believe it.

 _No,_ I thought, _It can't be true. He must have just said yes to be nice. She's new. He wants her to feel welcome. Gods, he probably just thinks they're hanging out as friends._

But his face kept haunting me. I must have imagined that, right? There's no way he could look at a girl he just met the same way he looked at me. We'd known each other for years.

No. I refused to believe it. It had to be a misunderstanding. Percy wasn't like that. I convinced myself that he hadn't even realized Drew was asking him out. At least it made me feel better.

* * *

Drew and Percy were both late to dinner. When they showed up, I saw Percy smile and give her a friendly wave, then he walked off to his own table, while Drew went to the Hermes one. Percy looked oddly casual for having just been asked out, but Drew had a huge smile on her face.

I shook my head in disbelief and kept pushing my mashed potatoes around with my fork. I hadn't eaten a thing.

"Hey, are you alright?" asked Malcolm.

I glanced over at him. I didn't even have the will to act like I was okay. I felt awful. "Fine," I said half-heartedly.

He looked genuinely concerned. "Seriously, if it's something bad you can tell me."

I shook my head. "I don't want to talk about it."

He nodded, wasting no time to change the subject. "How'd the meeting go?"

"Surprisingly productive," I said ambiguously.

"Did you guys figure anything out?"

"Lots." I glanced around the table. None of our siblings seemed to be paying attention to us. Most were too busy chatting quietly with each other. A few on the end were yelling at some of the Ares kids. I lowered my voice. "The new girl said that you came and talked to her last night."

Malcolm raised his eyebrows. "What? No I didn't. I mean…"

"What?" I said, when he didn't finish his sentence.

"I mean I was planning on doing it, but I blacked out and stuff."

I frowned at him. "We were supposed to talk to her _together,_ Malcolm."

He rolled his eyes. "Can you blame me for being curious?"

"I guess not. But I also don't think Drew is lying. Maybe you just don't remember it?"

"I guess…" he said, uncomfortably.

"Also," I said, putting my fork down, "Argus and Drew both also lost memories. I think the same thing that happened to you happened to them."

His eyes widened. "No way, are you serious? Last night?" I saw him glance over to the Hermes table, where Drew sat.

"Argus, yes. But not Drew," I shook my head. "She says it was how she got to camp. She doesn't even remember."

"Really?" He looked back at me, stunned. "I don't understand. I thought it was a spy—someone _in_ the camp. But someone brought her here?"

I heaved a sigh. "I know. I don't get it either. It basically destroys that theory."

He rubbed his forehead in deep thought. "I got nothing. Unless she's lying."

"I don't think so. She really seemed scared when I talked to her."

Malcolm shrugged. "We need to know more. I don't think we have enough info to put it all together."

I let my eyes gaze off into the distance, losing focus. "Yeah," I said. "I think it's best we just give it some time. Maybe it won't even happen again."

Malcolm frowned. I doubted he was convinced about the last part. Neither was I, but after what I'd just seen at the canoe lake, I didn't feel like thinking.

"Okay." Malcolm stood up, gave me a concerned look, and walked off, leaving his empty plate behind.

I scowled down at my untouched food, then followed my brother's example.

* * *

For the second night in a row, I woke up on Mt. Othrys. I sat up on the cold stone floor before the golden sarcophagus, where I had been laying. Emanating from the coffin, the same evil presence I had felt the night before filled the room, chilled me to the bone.

Every natural instinct in my body ordered me to run. I knew exactly who was in there. But you know that feeling you get when you see a car crash about to happen? Even if I knew a disaster was coming, I couldn't tear my eyes away. I was rooted in place.

"Hello?"

" _My messenger returns,_ " boomed the evil voice, sounding amused.

The voice was indescribably powerful. It spoke with such authority that I could practically feel my soul quaking under its tone. I was an ant. He was a giant.

"I'm nobody's instrument," I declared, sounding a whole lot braver than I felt. "Especially not you."

" _You'd be wise to reconsider. I can be very generous to those I favor._ "

I narrowed my eyes, instinctively taking a half-step back from the sarcophagus. "What do you mean 'generous'?"

" _I understand that I have come to own that which you want the most. Something… no—_ someone you've lost." On the last three words, a second voice—the one I recognized—joined Kronos'. They spoke in union.

"Luke," I felt a tug in my heart. Tears welled my eyes. I tried to blink them away, but I failed. Kronos was offering me _Luke_.

" _Yes,_ " Kronos spoke into my mind, alone once again. " _If you cooperate, I will return my vessel to you._ "

I clenched my jaw, steeling my resolve. Inside me, my emotions were in turmoil, but I refused to allow myself to be manipulated. "I'll never cooperate with you," I struggled to say.

" _You'd condemn your friend—your love—to death, without even hearing my conditions?_ "

I wanted to scream _YES,_ but I couldn't bring myself to do it. The temptation to know was too strong. "What— What do you want from me?"

" _Do not inhibit my instrument. Do not interfere with the Wanderer's Curse. That is all I ask of you."_

"The Wanderer's Curse?" I blinked, stunned. "So it _is_ your spy! You've cursed the camp! I'll never stand by and watch you harm my family."

 _"The Wanderer's Curse will bring no harm to your friends, as long as they do not obstruct it. It is merely a means to an end. Ignore it, and the son of Hermes is yours to keep."_

A knot formed in my throat. I swallowed hard. "And if I refuse?"

The air temperature dropped sharply. _"Your noncompliance will not obstruct my goals, only delay them. Cross me and I can guarantee you, once I obtain my new vessel, the son of Hermes will suffer as I have suffered."_

"Leave me alone!" I shouted, grabbing my head. "Let me sleep in peace!"

 _"Your peace is outdated. Consider your allegiance carefully, or my vessel's blood will end up on your dagger."_

"I'll never betray my friends!"

Kronos' tone became sharp. _"We shall see."_

 _BANG! BANG! BANG!_

A horrible pounding sound came from inside the coffin. _He's trying to get out!_ I realized. Terror seized me. I turned to run, but it was too late.

 _BANG-BANG-_ _ **BANG!**_

Just as I started to flee, I heard the coffin explode open. Time dilated severely. My legs gave out. In slow motion, I started to fall.

Just before my head hit the stone floor, everything went black.

* * *

 _BANG! BANG! BANG!_

I sat up in terror, hearing a pounding sound. I heard some of my siblings groaning in annoyance. It was pitch-black in the cabin, but I wasn't the only one that was awake.

I checked my beside clock. 2:25 AM.

 _BANG! BANG! BANG!_

"Who in the _gods_ name is at the door?" I heard one of my siblings ask, sounding severely irritated.

 _The door!_ I realized. Someone was knocking on the door! With haste, I stood up in my pajamas, grabbed my dagger off my bedside, and didn't bother to tie my hair back. Clumsily, I stumbled barefoot on the cold hardwood floor over to the front entrance. After what had just happened in my dream, I was a bit scared to open the door, but I swallowed my fear. I couldn't just let whatever it was keep my siblings and I awake all night.

I swung it open, dagger at the ready. I'm not sure what I expected to find behind the door at 2:30 in the morning, but I definitely hadn't been expecting—

"Drew?" I asked, baffled.

She looked distraught, near tears. "Annabeth, help! It's Percy… he—he… I didn't know what to do, you need to come quickly!"

A cold sense of dread washed over me. I had felt tired before, but after hearing Percy was in trouble, I was wide-awake. I stepped out onto the deck and closed the door behind me, not even bothering to say an excuse to my cabin mates, who were probably listening.

"Show me the way," I said, sternly.

She lead me wordlessly out into the cabin yard. The night air was still and silent. When we found Percy, he was laying unconscious near the edge of the forest, about a hundred yards from the cabins.

I rushed to his side and knelt beside his prone form. Percy was lying on his back, out cold. I numbly took his pulse, horrified that I might feel nothing. Thankfully, it was strong.

"How did this happen?" I demanded of Drew.

"I don't know!" Drew wailed. Tears fell down her face. "I came out to use the bathroom and I just saw someone walking through the yard. I called to him but he didn't answer. When I caught up to him, oh god… Annabeth, if only you could have seen it."

"What was it?" I demanded, irritated. I'm not sure if I was mad because Drew was crying, or because I wanted to cry as well.

"He was in some kind of trance! He didn't even notice me until I got right in his face and yelled at him to stop. Then he just passed out!" She sniveled.

I came to a horrified realization. "The Curse," I breathed.

"The what?" Drew asked me, aghast.

I swallowed hard, eyeing her sternly. "I'll explain later. For now, I need you to help me carry him. Can you do that?"

Drew choked back a sob. "Yeah, I can try. I'm— I'm just not that strong."

"Just grab his legs."

She obeyed. On a count of three, we lifted Percy. Drew held him under his knees; I held him under his armpits. I allowed his head to rest against my abdomen as we carried him so that it would not dangle.

It was slow going. Drew wasn't kidding when she told me she was weak. We had to stop three times on the hundred-yard walk back to Percy's cabin so that she could adjust her grip. For me, it wasn't much of a problem—I've done enough physical training at camp that I probably could have lifted him myself, but I didn't want to risk injuring him in case I dropped him.

"He's gonna be okay, right?" Drew asked quietly, the third time we stopped.

"He should be," I said.

"You think is what happened to me, right? And your brother, and the staff guy?" She sounded horrified as she gazed at his unconscious form. "Did I just walk off in a trance, all on my own? Is that really how I got here?"

I swallowed hard. "I think so. It looks like this is how the Curse works. I just… I don't understand where he was going."

"It's a curse?"

My jaw tightened. "I promise, I'll explain later. Here, help me again."

* * *

It took us about fifteen minutes to get him back. We entered cabin #3 as quietly as possible, trying to avoid waking campers from any other cabins. With some effort, we managed to get him onto his bed.

Drew sat down on one of the other bunks, struggling to regain her breath. "Oh god…" she muttered, sounding terrified, "So I just— I just walked all the way here from New York City in a trance…"

I kept myself busy making Percy comfortable. I put a pillow under his head and pulled the blankets up to his waist. Thankfully, I had some experience doctoring an unconscious Percy—I'd had to do it for a few days when he first came to camp.

"Try not to worry about it too much," I said softly. "Of all places you could have ended up, you chose a good one."

"You don't get it!" she exclaimed. I looked over at her in confusion. She continued, "I didn't choose anything, Annabeth! You didn't see Percy when he… oh my god… it was the most unnatural thing I've ever seen. He just stared right through me." Drew sounded miserable. "It was like I wasn't even there… And yesterday, I must have been like this! I was a _zombie_ for a whole day! And I don't even remember it."

I rubbed my forehead in exhaustion. I had neither the will nor the want to console her. "Drew, it's gonna be okay. Just go get some rest."

"No. I should stay and wait for him to wake up."

I was tired and unable to control myself, so I got territorial about it. "No, you should _go and rest_ ," I said, forcefully, giving her a sharp look. "I'll watch him. He's _my_ responsibility."

Drew's eyes widened a little. She looked at me, then at Percy, then at me again. At first, she just looked surprised. "Wait, you…?" Then, her knowing look narrowed accusingly on me. I saw her jaw tighten. "You _do_ , don't you?"

Well, too late to back out. She knew. There were butterflies in my stomach, but I matched her glare, refusing to back down. I said nothing.

When I didn't deny it, Drew's perfect face cracked into a scowl. She inhaled sharply, her upper lip twitching in anger. "You… you…"

I guess she was too upset to find the right insult for me, because at that, she stormed out of the Poseidon cabin, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

 **Reviews are always appreciated.**


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